


Once upon a time

by Elizabehta_Beilschmidt



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Chloe Decker, Deckerstar - Freeform, Established Relationship, Everyone gets to know, F/M, Hell, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Post-Season/Series 03, We Die Like Men, but i throw it to the void in case someone else enjoys, chloe does queen, this is completely for my own pleasure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-05-21 06:50:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19369177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elizabehta_Beilschmidt/pseuds/Elizabehta_Beilschmidt
Summary: Once upon a time, there was a Devil. Once upon a time there was a Detective. One day the truth was revealed and she rejected it. One day he lost everything and went back to Hell.And, one day, she forced her way to Hell to get him back, at all costs.





	1. The Detective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Detective that couldn't accept the truth is reprimanded by her daughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. I should be studying but here's a project that started with a stupid prompt and then consumed my entire self.
> 
> Now it's around 20k words. I regret nothing. 
> 
> I'll update soon, I promise!

* * *

_Once upon a time there was a human woman. She was like you and me, she had her life ahead with dreams of her own. She was a bright Detective, but there was one truth she couldn’t accept._

* * *

"Did it hurt?”

Chloe blinks and looks up when she realizes that someone is talking to her. It was a man, thirty something, dyed-blond and with a smile that had little to do with happiness and more with the high amounts of alcohol he probably had already consumed. 

“When you fell from heaven." He finishes once he gets her attention.

The woman smiles for a very different reason than what the man is probably thinking. She thinks that the way he is smiling and waiting for her response is almost  _ cute. _ If she wasn’t a woman on a mission tonight she would have granted him a few minutes of her time and see where this conversation would go.

Instead, she gulps down the rest of her drink. “Not interested, thanks.”

The man frowns. “Why?”

Across the room, Chloe notices certain someone walking down the steps towards the grand piano in the center of the club. She smiles fondly and wonders what is he exactly going to play tonight. She blinks back to the man in front of her and remembers he exists.

“Because, tonight, I’m quite busy. You see, I have to finish checking the books of this place and catch up with my human friends before going back to Hell with my husband.” 

The man blinks slowly, wondering if such a beautiful woman was tripping with something  _ strong _ . Opting for not getting involved with someone so crazy, he shrugs and walks away towards the next woman in the bar, trying again with another lame pick-up line.

Chloe looks down at her empty glass before looking up at the cute bartender serving drinks to tonight’s Lux’s patrons. For a moment she imagine Maze there in one of her skin-tight leather outfits pouring rich whiskey into someone’s empty glass. She knows that Maze won’t be there, but she misses her nonetheless. For her it has been a while since they saw each other.

_ “My gift is my song, and this one's for you…” _

She turns when the lights diminish to focus on the solitary silhouette seating at the grand piano, eyes closed, humming along the notes dancing in the air.

_ “And you can tell everybody, this is your song.” _

His eyes are still closed, but she feels like he is singing in her ear those beautiful words. Of course she knows them. They’ve had what feels already like a lifetime together even if by what she gathered yesterday it has been only a few months. So many songs he had played for her, so many quiet moments enjoying the other’s presence, basking in the simplicity of it all.

_ “It may be quite simple but, now that it’s done. I hope you don’t mind…” _

She sang with him in her mind, smiling once he opened his eyes and looks straight at her. Of course he knows where she is. Always.

_ “... I hope you don’t mind that I put down in words how wonderful life is now you’re in the world.” _

She remembers words like those, a long time ago. A conversation in hushed whispers as if the world was going to end, his tear-stained cheeks as he confessed how he didn’t want to live in a world without her, how he didn’t want eternity if it meant losing her. A confession about wanting to be human by her side. 

It all started when, paradoxically, her world ended. At least how she knew it. You see, she had always been an atheist because it was absurd to believe in a God that punished their children and expected to be worshipped. It just didn’t make sense -

Until she found out that her own partner and best friend, and maybe-not-quite-something-else was the actual  _ real _ Devil. Yep, the one from the Bible. The Adversary, the Beast, yadda yadda. Looking back to the Chloe of the past, she was an idiot for letting it get so much into her head. But she had to give her some slack. Up until then she was a mere mortal, an ignorant human living her everyday life thinking that there wasn’t much else out there.

How wrong she was!

And how much wrong she did, indeed.   


It was a dark chapter in her memory. She wasn't exactly in a very good place and made decisions she regretted deeply. She refused to acknowledge Lucifer for a long while, expecting that everything would disappear if she closed her eyes hard enough. She went back to work acting as if nothing out of the ordinary happened - as if her former partner and resident Devil hadn't killed Cain before her eyes. Cain. The man she almost married.

She guesses that it was her brain shutting down after so many fucked up stuff filling it. It simply couldn't be happening. It didn’t matter that Dan and Ella were obsessed with asking her if she was okay, or that the new lieutenant gave her one week free while they investigated Marcus Pierce’s death (in the end everything went a bit under the rug, not that she was surprised). She came back to work and did what she did best: detect. Solve murders. Put the bad guys where they belonged. Defend the innocent.

Punish evil.

No. That wasn’t _her_ job. She had to remind herself every time the urge to do more assaulted her, when the absent murderous actions of her ex-partner hit her with its emptiness. The first week she worked alone, she almost missed Lucifer. Things were much easier and fun with him. A tiny voice in her head filled interviews and silences with witty banter and inappropriate commentary in _his_ voice. But he wasn’t there and she didn’t want him back. Did she?

It wasn’t until Maze - Mazikeen of the Lilim, her former roommate and _actual_ demon from Hell - stumbled through her door, breathing hard and gripping the door frame with white knuckles. 

“He’s gone.” Was what she said. 

Her first urge was to demand her to leave her home and leave her daughter and her alone, but something in her crazed expression stopped her. And the red-rimmed eyes glaring at her.

“... “ the demon frowned, but didn’t make a move towards her. Maze looked down at the knife in Chloe’s hand and then at the half-finished dinner on the counter. Her eyes narrowed. “I thought you should know,” something instinctual told Chloe that it wasn’t what the other wanted to say. “Lucifer won’t bother you lot again. I hope you are happy.”

And with that, she left to maybe never come back.

 _Gone._  

Lucifer had left Earth and gone back to where he belonged. Chloe took a deep breath and let the air out in something that sounded like a sob. She should be happy. She didn’t have to wonder when he was going to cross paths with her again and didn’t have to look over her shoulder expecting his dark form to be following her wherever she goes. She had the chance to move on and leave all this celestial bullshit behind.

Her legs gave out on her and the woman crumbled to her kitchen floor, the knife making a clattering sound when it clashed on the tiles. She was safe, she was free, she was -

“Mommy?” 

Chloe looked up at her daughter, who was looking down at her with worry. 

“Why are you crying? Are you sad? What happened? Was that Maze?”

She blinked at the flurry of questions, not knowing what to say. She looked down at her hands to find them wet with salty tears and when she tried to speak her throat seemed to be against it.

“I’m fine,” neither believed the lie. “And yes, that was Maze. Lucifer.... He - he’s gone away.”

Trixie blinked a few times, digesting the news. “Away? Will he come back?” she frowned when her mother shook her head. “That’s why you are sad?”

“No, I…” she hesitated before speaking next. What was she going to say? That she was happy he was gone would be a lie. 

_And Lucifer hates liars. Lucifer never lies._

The thought made her go down another rabbit hole - her mind swirling with all the times he told her exactly the truth and nothing but the truth. That he was the Devil and that he liked working with her. She, a nobody. How could she digest being partners with the _actual_ Devil?

“You miss him?” Trixie sat down besides her, mindful of the abandoned knife.

“I do.” It wasn’t a lie.

Her daughter patted her leg, making her look up. “Then why have you been avoiding him?”

Chloe blinked. “I did not -,” she started, but the girl’s glare made her shut up. “Okay, maybe I was avoiding him.”

“Did you have an argument? Like Daddy and you?”

She scoffed. “No.”

The girl leaned in like she was going to tell her a secret. “You remember that time when I fought with Mandy? You had to come to school and everything,” they laughed together at the memory of sweet Beatrice all battered and screaming at the other girl. “She had been avoiding me for _months!_ Like, really?” she rolled her eyes at the memory, “In the end I had to confront her to see what was the problem and, well, that happened.”

“But you guys made up,” Chloe tilts her head trying to see the connection.

“Yes. She’s my best friend,” Trixie nods eagerly. “That’s my point! Lucifer is your best friend, Mommy. I have _eyes_ and I know how he makes you feel. Avoiding me almost cost Mandy our friendship,” she looked down at her socked feet. “After what happened with Marcus,” she gulped, “I think you need a friend. Like him.”

_Marcus. Cain._

Chloe jumped in her place, taking a big breath. She almost married that man, but she broke it up! Lucifer, he… He was always there. He was part of her life and she pushed him away to the point of making him go back to Hell. 

 _That wretched place!_ She could almost hear his voice. How many times had he talked about Hell and she had brushed it like another silly comment from his delusion? Everything he talked about was true and she had chosen to ignore it.

She has been a coward. 

Regret consumed her next, and Chloe felt the tears start to gather in her eyes. Why was she so _scared_ of anyways? That he would eat her soul? That he would try to hurt Trixie? If he wanted to do that he had two years with plenty of opportunities to try. 

Was she afraid of dying? Of going to Hell? Now that it was proven to her that there _was_ something after death, did she think that she was damned? Chloe had killed people, lied to people and had plenty of jealousy and envy moments through her life. This was why she was an atheist - she believed that we only had one life and had to make the best out of it with our own decisions.

It seemed that it wasn’t the case anymore. And she had started her life as a believer with the wrong foot. 

“You know what, monkey? You are right.” She managed to get out of her chest. Trixie smiled up at her before pulling her mother for a tight hug. She had to get her friend back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The moment I heard that song I knew it has to be here. I actually have a Deckerstar playlist in Spotify, in case someone is interested!


	2. The Devil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Devil that has lost everything might still have hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who is on vacation?  
> That's right: Me.

* * *

_Once upon a time there was a man, but this man wasn’t like the rest of them. Because he was the Devil himself. And he wanted to take a vacation._

* * *

 

Lucifer watches his wife from his position sitting at the piano, his mind wandering as his hands play in autopilot the song he sings for her every time she reminds him of how much he had gained, after all this time and everything that happened. It is inevitable to remember that difficult moment, a long time ago, a few lifetimes for him, but a handful of years for mortals on Earth; when she found out what he was. Well, more like accepted ( _ finally! _ ) all the truths he had been telling her for years.

He thought he had lost her. When she didn’t reach for him, he decided to give up his last attempt at earthly vacation. It had been nice while it lasted, he tried to convince himself; he had the chance to experiment and mingle with the humans deeper this time. Maybe next time he could try something else than a nightclub. He had an eternity to test ideas, after all.

Mazikeen chose to stay against all odds, taking over Lux until she got bored. He didn’t care what she did with his club, it wouldn’t be there when he came back in a few Earthly decades. Chloe wouldn’t be there and Dan wouldn’t be there and Linda wouldn’t be there. Maybe he could try another location? Maybe he could go back to Europe next time. Yes, that sounded just lovely.

He spent his days in Hell planning and preparing his next vacation, going back at all the things he could have done better to make mental notes to follow in the future. Retiring had been a bad idea, that’s for sure; and if he managed to avoid Amenadiel better next time he could stretch his window to a few years. It had to be enough, though. More than that and he could get too attached.

Even if he tried to focus on his punishing work, soon he found himself with too much time on his hands; once demon uprisings were controlled and his people were put at rest that their King was there, at last, and planned to stay for a while. Now his days were spent roaming his castle and sitting on his throne (the Palace one, for audiences. The sky throne was for other purposes); thinking about Chloe’s face the last time he saw her, scared and shocked, her sweet voice mustering a weak _“It’s all true”_. He wondered if he should have tried to say goodbye even if she didn’t want to see him. His other human friends, who still believed that the Devil didn’t exist, at least deserved the closure. What would he have said to them? That he was moving back home?

Home. He chuckled. Hell wasn’t home. It has never been home for him; not as Los Angeles had been for him. Solving murders and worrying about a lot of things that had nothing to do with his past. It had been safe and easy, playing by their rules for a while. What an adventure.

Lucifer tapped his fingers on the armrest of the Palace throne, watching the ash fall from the big windows of the Audience Hall. Even if he had clear view of the outside it felt claustrophobic being there. Too many doors to keep the heat of Hell out of his house, too dark and cloudy in a perma-storm, too little light coming from the flames burning on the torches (lit by yours truly’s magic when he was in the room). He groaned, almost wanting another fruitless riot coming to his door to entertain him. Or a wicked soul to punish. 

Or news from Earth.

But of course no one would bother to call him. Not even Amenadiel, now that he had recovered his precious wings, would come to his humble abode to check on him, maybe have a little chat or, dunno, ask how was he dealing with losing everything. _Again._

How long has it been since he last breathed the non-ashen air of Earth? For him it could be years - he had lost count once the eternal clouds raining ashes blended each day with the next and he had crashed in his bed for a while before meeting his Council for the incoming rebellions. For earthlings - for Chloe - it may have been a few days, a week at most. He wondered if she had thought of him at all, even if it was to regret every conversation with him. 

Not that it mattered anymore, though. What happened was just in the past and he had to move on; he had to rule Hell and keep doing what he did best after eons perfecting the art of being an immortal punisher. Every now and then he stopped to think about her, about the beautiful color of her eyes and the way she seemed to have a smart reply for every one of his comments, about the warmth she provoked in his chest that had nothing to do with the hellfire inside of him. He had realized that he loved her a bit too late; but the reality was that he did, as he had never loved anyone before, and had an eternity to dwell on what could have been. 

Lucifer sighed as he came back to reality. A boring one. 

He tapped his fingers again and stretched his long legs, feeling like he hadn’t moved them for hours. He probably hadn’t, but there were no clocks in Hell, so he couldn’t be sure. The only way to measure time was how often a group of demons tried to overthrow him and take the throne. Not that any of them could reach the _real_ one, up in the grey sky over Hell. It was a known secret that those who sat there could tap into Hell’s power source. Only an angel could fly there.

“Bloody hell,” he murmured, standing up and wiping any dust o filth on his clothes. Sadly he had to forgo the Armani suit when an undesirable demon decided to stab him in the back, quite literally. A shame.

His hellish clothes were a mere copy that he had managed to make with a bunch of forgotten earthly garments from previous trips upside. The quality was outrageous, but he had to make do somehow. 

He scoffed and walked out of that empty place, his cursed wings trailing behind him. There was no reason to hide them here, and the show of power usually helped maintain order among his subjects. So, what was the harm? Sometimes he liked to imagine what Chloe would say if she saw them. She didn't get the chance that cursed day his world ended, not that he wanted her to see them in the wretched state they were after shielding them from Cain's follower's bullet rain. Maybe she would like them? She was too smart to let divinity consume her, so he was confident that her brain wouldn't melt like those lowly mortals back when his previous set was stolen. Another cherished adventure with her.

Sometimes he wondered if things would have been different if he had showed her his wings instead of the Devil face. As he walked upstairs towards his private chambers, he imagined a different scenario where he showed her his wings and walked her through his identity slowly, instead of dumping his awful face after murdering her ex-fiancé. What an awful timing indeed! 

Lucifer entered his rooms and bypassed the abandoned bed to reach the next room, where his treasures from Earth trips were stored. Books, trinkets, gifts, paintings, clothes… he had quite the collection, and sometimes he liked to admire the lives he influenced over the millenia; but then his target was the beautiful grand piano where he perfected his technique while no one tried to kill him in Hell.

He sat down and opened the lid, his mind envisioning Chloe's face the first time they met. He had been playing the piano, and his hands immediately started the quiet melody he had played when he fumed with Delilah's murder. 

Their first case. It felt so long ago. It wasn't, really, at least not compared to eternity. The years by her side were a mere blink of the eye, a brief dream to wake up from.

His right hand left the keys and he pressed it against his chest, where a burning pain ached. He knew it had nothing to do with the stabbing of the punches he sustained since coming back "home". Who knew that heartbreak hurt so much? Human feelings, it seems, reached further than mere thoughts and troubled dreams. They could even affect the body! He wished he could ask Linda about that. She always seemed to have an answer for these issues. He hoped that the effects of this "heartbreak" passed soon. 

With a sigh, the Devil poured himself into the songs and melodies he played on the piano, not caring how long he sat there or if he never stopped between songs. He didn't need to rest, not like humans did, and the courtesy of behaving human lost its meaning once he trespassed Hell's gates.

He was on his rendition of Moonlight sonata, third movement, when he was interrupted.

"My King," a quiet voice called from outside of his rooms. Entrance was forbidden there. "Your brother has been sighted entering the Gates."

Lucifer scoffed without abandoning the work his hands were doing. His family knew where to find them. Not that any bothered to before.

"Sir?"

"Go away," he growled over the music. He closed his eyes without listening to the retreating sounds of his servant. They had explicit orders to leave him alone.

The Devil frowned when he finished his song, wishing he had a bottle of Scotch at hand. Damn his lack of foresight for not bringing any this time. He would need the alcohol to deal with his brother. He stood nonetheless and walked towards the enormous balcony attached to his treasure room, waiting for the dark grey wings of God's favourite son to appear on the sky.

He sighed, hoping it was just a social visit. Amenadiel didn't have any "duty" with him anymore. He was back at Hell and left their Father's stupid Creation alone. What more could they ask of him?

To his surprise, the wings approaching his palace weren't grey, but white like his. He blinked in disbelief. He hadn't seen those wings since the owner pierced his chest with his sword before breaking his wings and pushing him out of Heaven.

Lucifer growled. _Michael_ . What was he doing here? What the _hell_ did he want? He squared his shoulders and flexed his fists, getting ready for his quiet downtime to end. It was payback time. He smiled at the thought of kicking his brother's angelic ass once and for all.

But the angel wasn't alone. Surprises didn't seem to end today, it seemed, as cocooned in the other's arms was -

Chloe?

His heart skipped a beat, fear disarming him and freezing him under Hell's unbearable heat. Chloe couldn't be dead. His brother couldn't be bringing her soul down here for… What for? She should be enjoying paradise up in Heaven! She should be-

She can't be dead.

Not here. Not now.

Lucifer rubbed his eyes before tears made their presence known. He looked up finding more details, like how Chloe looked pale beyond what could be healthy, and the dark circles beneath her eyes. Her eyes were closed, but she had that wrinkle between them like all those times she was perturbed with a crime scene. She was sad. In pain.

He swore there and then that he would find whoever killed her and punish them. 

"Brother," Michael said as a greeting as he landed on his balcony. Lucifer just nodded without looking up from her pale face. 

"What is she doing here?" He demanded, his eyes igniting with hellfire. "Why is she not in Heaven?" The Devil looked up at his brother with a half- formed scowl in place, but the angel didn't even flinch.

"She wouldn't shut up," he shrugged. Somehow, that enraged him more. 

"And you kicked her out from Heaven for that?" He clenched his fists. Unbelievable! They couldn't do that!

"Don't be absurd," the blond version of himself looked at him like he was mentally impaired. "Is it not her time yet."

"What."

"She is not dead, brother," he said slowly, carefully. Lucifer's eyebrows went up to his hairline. "Father sent me to bring her to you. I'm not a mere delivery boy," he scoffed and frowned down at the woman, "but if it made her stop screaming in our ears, fine by me."

"What are you talking about?” Lucifer looked down at the woman. She looked far from the fiery human he fell in love with. 

Michael sighed dramatically. “You tell me. She wouldn’t stop demanding to see you. And Father. And said stuff about ‘Trixie being more mature than a bunch of overgrown chickens’?” he rolled his eyes when Lucifer smirked at that. “Anyways. Here she is. Goodbye.” 

Without preambule he tossed her body towards him and stretched his wings, kicking the floor to take off towards the sky, not looking back to see if the other archangel caught her or not. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually picture Michael and Lucifer as twins, like so many other people in the fandom. Only that Michael has blond hair, but same wings, same eye colour, etc.


	3. The Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have zero impulse control today. I may have just bought horns hairpins.
> 
> And here's another chapter, where the self-indulgence starts. And the fluff.

* * *

_ Once upon a time they met, fell in love and it was all a plan of God. They tried to fight it, tried to deny it; but, in the end, they realized that what the hell? _

* * *

 

Watching the love of his life quietly snoring the hours away on his bed was surprisingly uneventful for the Devil. Once he got used to seeing her cuddling his pillow and tangled in his black satin sheets, Lucifer started to miss his cigarettes and whisky; or anything to occupy his mind with.

His hands were trembling as he considered every possibility of how had she come to this. What mortal in their right mind would choose Hell? Michael had mentioned something about screaming in their ears. Praying? Had she been praying? It was the only way to reach any of his siblings, or even his Father. In that case, why hadn’t she prayed to him? Even if he didn’t like to acknowledge it, Lucifer was still an archangel. He  _ could _ be prayed to, with enough conviction. If Chloe had been converted to a believer then she had to know what exactly Lucifer was by now.

He took a deep breath. Jumping to conclusions wouldn’t do any good, or at least that’s what Linda would say. 

“Hmm....,” Chloe stirred in her sleep, making him jump. She gasped once she woke up, sitting in the bed and looking everywhere, her heart beating fast.

With a thought Lucifer lit the torches in the room, waiting  as patiently as he could for her to notice him sitting quietly by the table. His rooms were similar to the penthouse in LA, with open walls, no doors, and everything in one sole space. If he had to be confined to a grey castle in a volcanic landscape, at least his private rooms shouldn’t feel so claustrophobic. If Chloe noticed the similarities, she didn’t look like it.

“Hey,” her voice was raspy. She tried to clear her throat. “So… this is Hell, huh?” She chuckled softly, but it didn’t reach her eyes. 

He narrowed his eyes and crossed his legs, watching and evaluating her reactions. Chloe sighed when he didn’t say anything and swung her legs over the bed, sitting in the edge and fixing her eyes on her twitching naked feet. He watched her take a deep breath. Did she notice how  _ everything  _ smelled like ash here? It was true that the air in LA wasn’t the cleanest, but Hell’s had to be quite the difference for a living, breathing human.

“You are probably wondering why I’m here,” her voice broke mid sentence. “I didn’t think it would actually work,” she chuckled again. “I’m glad it did.”

He hummed noncommittally, waiting for her to make the first move. She kept her eyes down, but her hands gripped the sheets.

“Maze told me that the only way here was dying,” he tensed, “but I wasn’t sure… I- I couldn’t.” Her knuckles went white in her iron grip. “When she mentioned that unless I was friends with another angel she didn’t know of I had to take the hard road down.”

_ Mazikeen _ , he grumbled under his breath. Of course that demon would plant absurd ideas in her scared mind. When he saw her again they were going to have a few words.

“That actually gave an idea, though,” she glanced briefly towards him to check that he was still as a statue in the chair. “If you, the Devil, was real, then God was too. People pray to God, right? I thought that… I guess that it was worth a try. Even if He never answers.” He actually chuckled at that.

“And did He?”

She shook her head, her hands letting go his bed covers. “No. Amenadiel came to visit instead. Told me to stop trying, that you were back in Hell and that I didn’t know what I was asking for. He said that -”

“Divinity and humanity don’t mix.” Both said at the same time. She turned to face him and smiled, this time something more real. 

She sighed, standing up and walking to sit in the foot of the bed, directly in front of him. He didn’t even blink.

“I owe you an apology.”

“You owe me nothing,” he grumbled crossing his arms, but he wasn’t angry. Chloe was just human. That he loved her didn’t mean she had to suddenly fall into his arms and live happily ever after together. He’ve had enough time to come to that revelation.

“I do. My behaviour was unacceptable. I avoided you for a  _ month _ .” She mirrowed his stance, looking every ounce of a cop she was, even wearing sweatpants and a odd-fitting t-shirt. “I’m sorry.”

A pregnant silence fell between them, their eyes fixed on the other as if they were waiting for the other to break it first. She forced herself to keep the staring contest even if she was curious to see the place he lived in at Hell. 

Lucifer took a deep breath. “Why didn’t you pray to me?”

She blinked, not expecting the question. “Huh?”

“You prayed to my Father, my siblings, but never to me. Why?” he demanded.

“Actually... ,” she looked down and fidgeted with the hem of her t-shirt. “I tried. But I guess it didn’t work after all. Can you be prayed to?”

“Darling, I may be a little estranged from my family, but I’m still an angel. This,” his wings appeared on his back, and Chloe wondered briefly how he could bring them out through the back of the chair, “aren’t just for show.”

“I called your name a lot of times,” she frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“My name…” he uncrossed his arms as he folded his wings back to where they came, realizing something. “Did you pray to ‘Lucifer’?”

Chloe looked at him like he had grown a second head. “That’s your name, isn’t it?” When he laughed at her response she frowned, but was actually happy to see him relax a little. “It is not?”

“So you didn’t research me on the internet? I didn’t expect you to actually  _ read _ any of the ‘sacred texts’ but a quick Wikipedia search would have told you that I had another name. Before.”

_ Before the Fall _ . Chloe blinked once, twice, cursing her stupidity and lack of foresight. “I… didn’t know?”

“Samael. You can pray to Samael and I would answer,” he smiled softly. It was endearing to talk to someone who didn’t have to be reminded time and time again that he didn’t like to be called that name. “But I don’t use it for anything else anymore.”

“Got it,” she nodded, wishing that her blush went down soon. 

Another silence, but this one was lighter and more comfortable after resolving that misunderstanding. Both knew that they had to address the elephant in the room sooner or later. Her eyes wandered towards the enormous windows behind Lucifer at the back of the room, watching the ash fall like snow in a cold day. Hell was everything but cold, she noticed, and the eerie quiet was so unlike LA that Chloe wondered how did Lucifer get used to the constant noise back on Earth. 

“So,” Lucifer said standing up. She jumped at the sudden movement and looked up at his outstretched hand. “Walk with me?”

With a little smile, she took his hand and followed him to the adjacent room, full of normal earthly things, reminding her of a hoarding dragon dwelling in their loot. In a way, Lucifer was just that. A dragon in his castle. The thought brought a slight chuckle to her lips.

When he turned to her with a questioning glance, she shook her head. There was  _ no way _ she would tell him that.

On the other side of the dark, yet beautiful, room was an open terrace that brought back memories of a kiss in a certain penthouse a while ago. She looked back at the bedroom slash living room, noticing the familiar feeling the whole place was giving her. She thought it was cute of him.

“Welcome to Hell,” he announced once they were outside. Chloe felt a freckle of ash and dust hit her cheeks. She looked up at the endless grey sky, wondering where was Hell’s source of light. 

Lucifer watched her take in the place that had been his prison and his home for the last millenia, wondering what was crossing her mind. What did she think about the desolate landscape, the maze full of dark towers and closed doors? The faint screams of the damned, resonating in the soft hills around his castle? Could she hear them? Because he could, every moment of everyday. 

He followed her eyes when she looked down from their advantage point, the ashen floor far under their feet, and wondered what she thought when her eyes lit with a spark she usually reserved for her detective work.

“It makes sense,” she murmured, probably answering a thought. She looked so  _ normal _ , so at ease, like they were once again in her world solving murders together. His heart did a flip in his chest, waiting for the moment this became too much for her human brain.

“Detective?” he asked, bringing her back from her musings. She looked up at him, apparently not noticing their still joined hands. He did.

“Yes?”

Dear Dad, she was so beautiful. “Everything okay?” His voice was almost a whisper.

Chloe let go of his hand, noticing his slight flinch, and turned her whole body to face him. Slowly, she lifted her hands to cup his face, forcing him to look straight to her eyes as she said: “Better than ‘okay’. I’m…,” she closed her eyes, inhaling his scent. He smelled like ashes and brimstone, with floral undertones. “I’m sorry.” She said again.

“Detective, don’t-”

“ _ Please.  _ Let me,” her stare was fierce when she opened her eyes again. She bit her lower lip, thinking how to voice her concerns, noticing the wandering look he gave to her mouth. “I’m sorry I behaved like a bad friend. I’m sorry for avoiding you. I’m sorry for making you think I wanted you out of my life. Because I don’t. I was scared and tried to convince myself that I didn’t need you, that I was okay without you or any celestial drama or looking over my shoulder in case anything paranormal was happening behind my back. I wanted… I wanted to- Don’t know what I was thinking,” she sighed. “The truth is that I was wrong. I realized that I wanted you, but it was too late.”

He gasped, freezing in place.

“The truth is that when you left Earth I felt empty in a way I haven’t felt before. It didn’t matter how much I told myself everyday that it was better like this, that I could power through the heartbreak, that it was absurd to even consider having  _ feelings _ for the actual Devil. When Maze told me you came back to Hell, I felt like a part of me left with you.”

Tears gathered in his eyes, and when one managed to fall down his cheek, her thumb was there to wipe it away. She was trying not to cry and keep her voice even. She had to keep it in until the end.

“I know I hurt you, deeply, and I don’t even hope that things go back to what they were before. Nothing can be as it was before… before I knew the truth,” she hesitated with the wording, knowing how he valued his oath of never lying. “Before I believed you.”

“Chloe, I-”

“What I’m trying to say is,” she shushed him with the same thumb that cleaned his tears, “I’m willing to move forwards. If you’ll have me. If you can forgive me.”

She watched him control his expression the following seconds, his eyes showing the internal war and every thought that passed his mind. Lucifer reached with one hand and covered the one she put on his cheek, closing his eyes.

When he opened then again, they were solid obsidian walls. "Amenadiel is right, though. You have no idea what you are asking for, Detective."  _ Not 'Chloe'. _

She took his hand over hers as a sign that he wasn't going to bolt. Yet. "Maybe so," she nodded. "I'm nothing but a mere mortal. But-"

"Darling, I appreciate your sincerity. And you get an 'A' for effort. It's not every day that I get visits here," he made a wide gesture towards Hell beyond the balcony railing. "But even if you think that you want to be with me now, there’s no future here. There’s no life.”

“Then come with me. Back to Earth.”

He chuckled, letting her go. “I can’t. I thought I could leave my past behind, but Hell had followed me to your world anyways. And got you caught in the crossfire,” something sparkled in his eyes.

“Cain,” she breathed. He nodded solemnly.

“And my mother. And Azrael’s blade. And… and my brother,” he looked elsewhere. Chloe somehow knew he wasn’t talking about Amenadiel. “One way or another Hell is going to remind me to come back and this place needs its ruler. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next year; but it will. And I’ll have to go.”

Lucifer took a step back and adjusted his mismatched shirt like it was a designer suit. 

“The let me come with you. When that happens.”

His laugh wasn’t happy at all. “Now that’s a good joke! Darling, you can’t be serious. Who is talking isn’t you.”

“What do you mean?”

“You see, this is the best part of the joke,” Lucifer was smiling, all teeth, a crazed look in his eyes. “It has come to my attention that you, my dear, are a miracle. Put in Earth by my dear Father, apparently to eventually meet me.”

“But I have a human mother and my father-”

“They had trouble conceiving, yes?” she nodded. “Amenadiel recognized your mom. He was instructed to bless them to have you. How convenient, right? To be around when I would decide that retirement was due, to be immune to my charms and my powers. To  _ love _ me.” He said the word like it was a curse.

“And you think my feelings for you aren’t real,” she blinked, trying hard to digest the information. So much of Lucifer’s erratic behaviour made sense now.

“You are too calm after learning this information. Are you in shock?”

“I think so. Maybe I’ll have to sit down later,” Chloe blinked the daze away before looking up to glare at Lucifer. “But right now I want answers. So what if I’m a miracle? If I was tailored for you? He can’t control  _ everything _ about me, right? I may have been dropped in your path but everything else is our doing.”

He scoffed like it was an absurd idea.

“Look at it this way: If I was made to be with you, to love you, then why marry Dan? Why have Trixie, why have a life? You came to Earth five years before we met - if I was  _ destined _ to fall in love with you why not finish the job quickly and make me love you back then?”

Lucifer blinked slowly. She had a point. “Even so, how do we know that whatever it is you think you feel right now isn’t some kind of twisted manipulation from my Father?”

“That’s the magic. We don’t. Maybe we will never know,” she crossed her arms and smirked. “Have a little faith, Lucifer.”

“Faith.” He rolled his eyes, but smiled back at her. The tension on his shoulders had diminished a bit. “You are asking the Devil to have faith in God.”

“No. I’m asking  _ you _ , Lucifer, the man I know, to have faith in  _ me.” _

He could feel it. This was the moment he could choose - to cave in and let himself live with her even if everything was a twisted game from his Father; or to take her back to Earth, reject everything that had to do with Him, and live the rest of his existence burning in his own Hell. With her right in front of him, so beautiful and soft and  _ alive, _ the decision was almost easy. Too easy.

“You don’t understand,” he licked his lips, unsure of what he was going to do, “what it means to love the Devil.”

“Then help me understand.” 

She was so fierce, so  _ gorgeous _ , he almost felt bad for this. He memorized the color of her eyes once more before taking a step back.

“I’m a torturer, a punisher, a walking nightmare. You have seen what I can do with a mere look, you have seen what this hands can do. You have seen my real face,” when she didn’t flinch at the mention of the event that triggered all of this, he let out a breath. Here goes nothing. “Could you accept me like this?”

With a thought he changed back to his Devil form, all red and scarred, his eyes full of hellfire piercing hers and looking for that moment it became too much for her, too horrible for her. 

She gasped at the sight. For a few moments she just took him in, detailing the things she couldn’t register back at the loft where Marcus - where  _ Cain  _ had tried to kill them. She saw everything. He could hide nothing from her being so close. He never closed his eyes.

“ _ This _ is the Devil, Chloe. An eternity of this,” he took a step back and leaned on the railing, his lean form against the desolate nothingness of Hell, “awaits for you. If you decide to stay.”  _ If you decide to love me,  _ she heard instead.

Her hands were trembling, but she could do nothing to stop them. Lucifer was trying to push her away, to scare her, that was pretty obvious. Did she want to live forever in Hell? Not really. Even him didn’t, and went upstairs for a vacation from time to time. Did she want to step away and leave this behind? To try and live the rest of her mortal life as a detective in the LAPD as if nothing happened? No. She couldn’t do that. Even if she didn’t stay with him, Chloe knew that her life had changed forever after Lucifer’s years by her side. Celestial drama aside, Lucifer had helped her grow in ways that no one else had. He had unbreakable faith in her wits and always tried to accommodate to her. She had brushed it as part of his eccentricities; but now she knew that caring for someone else, having a real friend, was a new concept for him. 

That he wanted to make it right filled her heart with warmth.

“I have a question,” she put on her best interrogation face.

“Shoot,” he smiled with those dark teeth, maybe hoping to scare her. Game face on, Decker, she reminded herself.

“Do you love me?”

He obviously didn’t expect that question. “Pardon?”

Chloe did a step in his direction, ignoring the way he tensed. “After everything that happened… I know that it seems kind of stupid to ask this, but I want to make sure,” she tilted her head, her eyes fixed on his. “What do you want? What do you… well, what do you desire?” 

He didn’t smile at her chosen words, and Chloe felt like an idiot for trying to joke in this situation. She saw the alarm in his hellfire eyes, the panic and the pain she was used to find in his chocolate eyes. As she waited for him to gather his thoughts to answer, she found familiar features under the red skin. His nose, his jaw, even his lips were the same. He was the same person, no matter how he looked. 

It was so simple that it almost took her breath away.

“I…,” he brought her back. “Well. I wanted you to choose me,” he gulped, gripping the railing until it made a screeching sound. “Back when you… uh, yes. That.”

She nodded slowly. “And now?”

Lucifer looked elsewhere, licking his lips. “I want this to be real.”

"What if it is?" She whispered. His gaze came back to hers and she  _ saw  _ the love there in the fire. She didn't need his answer anymore. "Can I kiss you?"

He snorted. "Really?"

“Huh-uh,” the woman smiled, taking another step into his personal space. She was sure he wasn’t even breathing. “Can I?”

He chuckled, but somehow it sounded like a half-choked sob. "If you dare," the challenge was lost in his trembling voice.

Chloe smirked and cupped his scarred face in her hands while keeping the eye contact. She wanted him to know that she was a hundred percent sure of what she was doing, that was deliberately choosing this for her. That no God or higher power was pushing her to do it. 

With a final step she got impossibly close to his body, her heart thumping in her chest. In his eyes she only saw the man she came to Hell for, the Lucifer that was her partner and got her back when no one else did. She loved him, even if she wasn’t exactly sure what it entailed or how it could work. For now, she didn’t care. She took a leap of faith and tiptoed to reach his lips, sighing once they made contact at last.

He was  _ warm.  _ His skin was some degrees hotter than the air around them and she was sure that it had something to do with the form he was presenting now. She didn’t care. She would analyze the facts later.

Chloe closed her eyes and poured her certainty into the kiss, hoping that he would be there having her back as always, stopping her from falling into the abyss of a life without him. She had never had her faith tested, and she was scared as hell (no pun intended) the seconds that ticked by and he stood there like a statue. She smiled, accepting defeat with a brave face.

When she pulled back, her hands still on his face, she was still smiling. Even if she was certain that he loved her back, Chloe knew that things weren’t usually as easy as in the movies - sometimes people didn’t get their happily ever after. Sometimes loving someone also meant letting them go.

“Thank you,” her voice cracked despite her efforts. He blinked with the same startled look, his eyes far away. “I’ll… thank you.”

“Chloe -” he said her name like a prayer, snapping back to reality. Before she could say anything else he leaned down and engulfed her into a kiss of a more passionate kind. “Chloe,” he gasped against her lips. Again and again.

She let him have her, kissing him back with as much intensity as he did, her eyes closed to focus on the way he moved against her; his hands bracing her head with his fingers lost in her messy hair. His warm tongue caressing her lower lip, his hot breath mingling with hers once she let him enter. It was demanding, desperate, so different from all the other tender kisses they had. She decided that she loved it.

When they needed to breathe again he didn’t let her go, his hands touching her face like he couldn’t believe she was actually there. She opened her eyes when she felt hair under her hands, finding his human form looking back at her with glazed eyes. She pulled him down to let their foreheads touch, breathing each other’s air and letting the frenzy pass. 

“Chloe,” he said once he found his voice, “I’m not exactly boyfriend material. I’m not another human man to share your life with. I can’t promise to always be there, to give you all you need and want. I can’t promise you stability, security and, well,  _ normal _ things.”

“I know.”

“What I  _ can _ promise you is all I am and all I have, selfishness and pride and the whole seven deadly sins. Specially lust,” she laughed at his joke, and to Lucifer it was the most beautiful music in the Universe. “I can promise you that I will cherish you and respect you for all eternity. If you’ll have me. If you can forgive me.”

She tried to swallow the lump in her throat. “I do.” Chloe nodded, incapable of stopping fresh tears from going down. “I wouldn’t want you any other way, you know.”

He kissed her softly.

“You sure?” 

“Lucifer, look at me,” he was already doing that, so he arched an eyebrow, “I’m  _ boring. _ I’m a single mom, a cop, and the sexiest underwear I have came from a sale in Walmart. My wildest experience is skipping my diet two days before my wedding to eat ice-cream,” he chuckled at that. “I can’t promise to keep up with your craziness. This whole Hell thing is still new to me and I admit that it scares me a little.”

“I’ll protect you,” he breathed with hellfire in his chocolate brown.

“Thank you,” she smiled, “but I was referring to the unknown. I’m used to being in control, to know what I’m doing. Letting that control go… is scary.”

Lucifer saw his opportunity and took it. “Darling, with the right partner bondage can be quite… exciting.” He purred in a low tone.

Chloe shivered, but rolled her eyes anyways. “You are impossible.”

“Thank you.” He smirked and kissed her again, one thumb softly caressing her cheek, feeling any remanent tension leave his body.

Chloe’s hands wandered down towards his clothes, grabbing the mismatched jacket to pull him towards her to deepen the kiss; humming in delight when he obeyed. This time it was her who gently licked his lips asking for entrance, biting playfully on his lower lip when he opened his mouth for her.

“Hmm,” he made an appreciative sound at her enthusiasm, his own hands going down to rest on her waist, satisfied with the slight shivers he provoked in her in the way. 

“Lucifer,” she whispered against his lips, placing her arms around his neck, feeling the vibrations of his growling response deep in her bones. “Love me.”

He froze, pulling back to look at her face but didn’t let her go. “Chloe?”

She bit her already swollen lips. “Make love to me, Lucifer.” She kissed the corner of his lip and looked at him straight in the eye, watching the panic and another wild feelings dance behind them.

“Are you sure about what you are asking for?” he looked down at her with a slight frown.

“Yes.”

One word. That one one word was enough to break the remaining wall between them. He lifted her in his arms as she circled her legs around his waist, hooking the ankles behind him. They kissed again, passionately, wildly, her hands tightly fisted in his hair. She barely felt him walk back inside towards the bedroom, so she was surprised when he tossed her to the luxurious bed she woke up in a while ago.

Chloe watched him prowl towards her, already taking off the jacket and the shirt, and she giggled like a teenager when he reached her to continue ravaging her mouth. This was exciting. And she was exactly where she wanted to be.

They made love slowly and carefully, exploring each other’s bodies for the first time, registering what they liked and what they didn’t with the reassurance that they could have more time to try more exciting things. They were insatiable, though, and as in Hell there was no day or night, they completely lost track of time. Only them existed for the other, their bodies and their moans and their hands doing magic on each other.

An unknown number of hours later, Chloe woke up feeling completely spent and sore in delicious places. And warm. Too warm. 

She felt a hand caress her hair out of her face. “Slept well?”

She turned to find Lucifer lounging on the bed, completely naked and absolutely unapologetic for it, reading a book by her side. If they weren’t in Hell this would feel unnervingly domestic.

“Uh-huh,” she nodded slowly, feeling her throat too dry to speak. “Water?”

He made a gesture to the little table besides her. Indeed, there was a glass of water prepared for her. She drank greedily

“So,” she cleared her throat and rolled towards him. “What now?”

Lucifer stopped to enjoy her naked body cuddling his side. He closed the book and put it on the floor before embracing her and planting a kiss on her hair.

“Honestly? I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I understand that you’d want to go back home sometime soon, yeah?” 

“Only if you come with me,” she said softly, one hand caressing the skin over his heart to feel it beat steadily.

“Of course, love. But maybe I’ll have to take care of a few things around here, though.”

“What things?” her voice was relaxed, curious, and Lucifer let go of the impulse of hiding his devilish side to her.

“Hell is pretty automatic, but I have to place some demons I trust to maintain order while I’m not here. Last time I didn’t because I simply quit, but this time…,” he sighed. “I think it’s best if I eventually come back.”

Chloe’s hand stopped. “When?”

They hadn’t addressed  _ this _ exact conversation yet. Being together was nice and everything, but what then? She was mortal, Chloe thought, and she would grow old and die and Lucifer would live forever. Would rule Hell eons after she was dead. And she was sure that he wouldn’t let her torture herself in Hell after she died.

“Whatever you are thinking, please stop,” he caught her hand and forced her to look up at him. “Time moves slowly in Hell. It could be a couple of years on Earth, maybe more. That’s what I have to discuss with the Council.”

She snorted and resumed her ministrations. “You have a Council?”

“It’s not like one of your human ones, that’s for sure. It’s more or less a bunch on people that train the army of the Lilim and takes care of the actual torturing. I delegate, you know?”

“You have mentioned that before,” she smiled up at him, grateful of the change of subject. “How does it work? Fire and pitchforks and everything?”

“Nothing like that.” He looked horrified of the suggestion. “Hell works with your deepest guilt and turns it against you. But it is the unrepentant, the fanatics, who have the pleasure of dealing with my demons, and if they behave, with yours truly. We usually... uh,” Lucifer hesitated before giving too many details, giving her a cautious look. She knew that he was still waiting for when it became too much.

“Go on.” She encouraged him with a smile. Something sparked in his eyes.

“Maybe another time,” he leaned down to kiss her. “For now, if you desire, you can take a bath and dress. Fancy a tour around my castle?”

“Now I feel like a princess,” Chloe giggled. 

“While some call me the Prince of Darkness, nowadays I go with King,” he shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “I guess it makes you a Queen, if you want to,” he smirked and Chloe could see the real truth behind the teasing. Being his Queen meant long term commitment, meant staying through thick and thin. She was positive that Lucifer wasn’t the marrying type, but he appreciated loyalty and sincerity.

She smirked back. “Queen of Darkness. It has a nice ring to it.”  _ I’m here to stay,  _ she said in her mind.

Lucifer blinked a few times before smiling, absolutely delighted with the idea.


	4. The Queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Queen that wants to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm tired, Boss.
> 
> I'm going to publish the whole thing. No one can stop me.

* * *

_And once upon a time there was an angel that Fell from Heaven, banished to Hell for all eternity. It was until he met his Queen, his miracle. Until they became one and the same._

* * *

“Nice performance,” Chloe smiles when she approaches the Devil sitting on his piano. After finishing the song, the DJ had blended perfectly the latest hit and the dance floor was filled to the brim.

“I’m glad to be back,” Lucifer purrs, leaning into the hand she puts on his cheek. They share a look and smile, and for a moment the room fades and there’s only the two of then.

“Ugh, cut it out already. I’m not sure why I’m even here if there’s not going to be an epic orgy.” Maze’s voice shatters their little  _ moment. _

“Maze! Be nice!” they turn to find Ella slapping the demon’s arm and smiling apologetically to them. “Sorry for being late, guys. Work has been  _ crazy _ without you around.”

Chloe blinks. Sometimes she forgets the time difference between realms. “Still missing us?”

“Yeah, totally,” the forensic scientist rolls her eyes. “The new Lieutenant is fuming at losing our dream team. ”

“They are needed somewhere else, though,” Linda’s voice cut through whatever Ella was going to say next. The doctor smiles at them warmly. “Amenadiel has told me you guys have been doing some real work down there.”

Lucifer snorts. “Angels. Worst gossipers in the universe.”

“Things are going well,” Chloe smiles politely, choosing not to share too much of Hell’s inner workings in such a public place.

“Pft! Those morons can’t be making things easy for you,” Maze crosses her arms. “Don’t know about you, but I’m getting thirsty here. Let’s go.”

Ella crosses arms with the demon, who still seemed genuinely surprised at the human’s ease of her demonic nature. When Lucifer approached her with the idea of telling all of their human friends the truth, she wasn’t really happy about it. The little human already knew, and while Chloe had been in Hell sorting things out with Lucifer, Maze had been who took care of her while the mother returned (or not, but that’s a possibility that thankfully didn’t happen). 

Linda stays to keep company of the couple, basking in the ease and power they radiate around each other. She can’t help but notice the changes on her most remarkable patient, intrigued by what could have happened in Hell all this time. Amenadiel had explained to her how time went slowly in Heaven and Hell, and how a few days in Earth meant years in those realms.  _ Years. _ If for her had been a few months…

“So,” her curiosity won the battle. Linda bit her lip as she procured the most burning question. “How did it go? Any trouble with…?”

“The Queen business?” the blonde woman smiles, remembering how the idea had seemed so foreign before. “Well…”

“A bloody nightmare,” her husband growls, his eyes far away. “But they won’t be a problem anymore.”

“They?”

“Demons. Let’s say that some weren’t exactly happy with the new arrangement of things,” Chloe put a finger on her lip, her mind going far back in the past, back when they had settled in Hell.

Coming back to Earth at first felt somewhat bittersweet. 

Sorting things out in Hell had taken longer than what either of them expected (communication in Hell went awfully slow without technology), and by the time Lucifer had arranged an agreement of sorts with the Council,  allowing only one trusted demon to possess a body to call him in case of an emergency, Chloe had got used to living in the Devil's castle. 

At first it had been difficult - she had been only human for far too long and she was too attached to the way things worked in Earth. Wake up, go to work, buy groceries, be a responsible adult. Always do something, produce something, work in something. In Hell she wasn't required to do anything at all, and it was starting to make her go mad. How did Lucifer deal with  _ eons _ like this? Oh, yeah, he run to Earth.

Eventually she had enough and donned her borrowed clothes (she wasn't sure about demon fashion, but it was all dark colours and long sleeves. At least it wasn't tight leather like Maze's) and went exploring.

Lucifer had told her that everyone was warned not to touch one hair of her head at risk of being smited into oblivion, but still to keep the exploring to a minimum. She didn't mind, though, as almost everything inside the castle was new territory; luxurious but still things she had never seen before, demonic symbols everywhere and impossible architecture she swore only stood with magic. She had also noticed that gravity was heavier in Hell, something she could only get used to thanks to her police physical training. Even so, she was short of breath when she reached the throne room downstairs. 

She actually liked this room. It was big, designed to intimidate and impress of course; but also the most open room of the castle. That was something she noticed the first time Lucifer toured her around -  _ everything _ was behind a door. Dark hallways, dark rooms made of dark stone. Hell was dark. Duh.

Not this room. The Audience room had open windows and high ceilings fit for someone with wings. She could almost imagine him sitting there, bored beyond words, with the same face he wore as she tried to do paperwork. A lot of things made sense now.

With a sigh, she sat down on the throne and watched the ash fall down, imagining it was snow, chuckling when she thought of Trixie trying to make snow angels in the ash. Lucifer's face should be worth framing and putting up in the living room.

"My Queen!" She turned at the voice, finding one of Lucifer's demons. She couldn't remember their name, but it was something like 'Chad'? 'Squad'? "My Queen!"

"What is it?" Chloe used her Detective voice, still finding her place around the castle now that Lucifer had officially presented her.

Not-Chad gasped at the sight of her lounging on the throne, his slitted eyes noticing every little detail of her human body under the thin material of the dress. Chloe felt a little bit uncomfortable, but it has become a common situation now ( _ yes _ , she was human; and  _ no, _ Lucifer wasn’t going to eat her; and  _ no,  _ she wasn’t a witch) so she let it slide. 

“ _ What is it? _ ” she growled, a habit she picked up from Lucifer. It always seemed to set the demons in motion when they stopped to gape at her for too long.

“There’s been a, uh,  _ disagreement _ and the Lord hasn’t been found anywhere -”

“Lucifer’s busy,” the woman bit her lip, uncrossing her legs to lean towards the demon. “What’s the problem?”

She knew she shouldn’t be doing this. Even if she was Queen, in theory, they hadn’t actually talked about what she could do or had to do about it. Lucifer was all about free will and living by desire; but she knew that with the title it was inevitable to had certain duties to attend. Also, she felt bad for making him work overtime to get things in order before they left. It was a slow process and there always seemed to be a problem going on. Who knew that demons were so needy?

The least she could do was take some tedious work from his shoulders. Maybe they could go back home sooner.

Not-quite-Chad gulped. “A demon failed to attend their duties and a soul has been unattended for too long.”

“That’s it?” she frowned. “Doesn’t seem to be worth of Lucifer’s time.”

The demon flinched, trying to appear smaller.

“This soul was personally ordered by the Lord to be under surveillance.” This piqued her interest.

“Who?”

“Cain.”

Chloe tensed and got up faster than she could process her movement. “You have to take me there.  _ Now.” _

Without having to speak further, she was guided to the labyrinth of doors; endless hallways that seemed the same to her, some doors with chains and some without, some doors dark and some doors full of light. She wondered how loops looked to the damned souls down here, how Hell turned their own guilt into their worst nightmare to live over and over again. She wondered for a moment what would be hers.

She blinked again and wiped away some ash that gathered on her long sleeves when not-Chad approached what looked to be a violent bar fight - that is, if the drunk patrons were hideous demons and the bar was the narrow hallways of Hell.

It was all growls and words in a language she couldn’t recognize, but the general idea was clear. She had pulled apart enough bar fights in her days as an Officer.

“Enough!” she shouted in her cop voice, one hand going for the glock at her waist… which was still on Lucifer’s room back at the castle. Damn dresses without room for weapons.

The growling demons turned towards her, freezing at the sight of her pale skinned human form. Some bored onlookers blinked at her like she was part of the show. Could they understand english? So far ever demon at the castle could, and Maze declared that demons spoke every language, so she proceeded after clearing her throat.

“What’s the meaning of this?” she continued in her cop voice. “Break it off, now.”

“He started it,” one growled. She looked like a woman, with scaled skin and a forked tongue peeking from her mouth. Her hand was too long, with palmed fingers, and long claws that looked like they could tore her to ribbons easily. 

“Bullshit,” the other demon was male, probably. His body looked decayed and half-decomposed. His eerie white eyes bore into hers. “Where’s the King.”

“Busy,” she narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. “Until he is not, bear with me. Now, don’t you all have something to do, hm?” if there was something she hated, was curious onlookers. Or worse, onlookers hoping for a fight. These demons sounded honestly disappointed that no one was going to lose their head today, but left anyways, leaving her alone with not-Chad, Zombie boy and the Lamia demon. “Not, tell me what happened.”

Zombie boy snorted. “You are not my King. I shouldn’t answer to you.”

She could feel her brow twitch, flashbacks of people not taking her seriously for being a woman on a man’s world plaguing her mind. 

“Listen. You can talk to me or wait for Lucifer to arrive, in which case he won’t be in a very good mood for having to stop what he’s doing and waste time listening to your nonsense.”

Lamia grumbled something in their language and Zombie boy chuckled, obviously at Chloe’s expense.

“What did you say?” she turned her burning, figuratively, eyes towards the other demon. She just showed her sharp teeth, making a hissing sound. Chloe blinked and turned towards her guide, waiting.

“Um… She said something about ‘our King already wasting his time wooing a useless mortal and naming her Queen’,” not-Chad looked uncomfortable.

“Thank you,” she smiled at him and kept the smile when she turned back to Lamia demon. “I see there’s no use trying to reason with you. I’ve met people like you before, you know? Fools, waiting for the world to cater to their whims,” she smirked. “Guess what. They are probably being tortured in one of these rooms now. And I’m on the other side, enjoying their suffering.”

Zombie boy gulped. This sounded like a threat, and Chloe knew that sooner than later her buffing would crack and she would lose the little respect these demons had for her. Would Lucifer come if she called? No. She had to deal with this on her own.

Lamia didn’t seem at all impressed by her words. She lifted one clawed hand and took a step towards her, passing a claw over her cheek. If she put a little bit of pressure, her skin would slice open like bread, and both knew it. 

“I don’t know about you, Klaus, but she looks too  _ tender _ to be our Queen. No claws, no fire…,” she leaned a bit and smelled her. “You make him  _ weak _ , mortal. Leave before you kill him with your humanity.”

Klaus gasped and looked at something behind Lamia, but Chloe couldn’t look away from her hypnotizing eyes. They changed colour fast, intriguing her, enticing her…

“ _ Enough!” _ a new voice growled from the sky and with a loud whoosh Lucifer launched himself towards the demon and kicked her away from Chloe, who blinked from her stupor. “ _ WHO DARES TOUCH WHAT IS MINE?” _

Klaus, not-Chad and Lamia woman crumbled to their knees, prostrating before the winged fury of the King of Hell. Chloe's heart did a weird flip in her chest at the sight of his red-skinned winged form. She had missed him too much in what felt like days without him.

"Hey," she said softly at his back. He nodded to acknowledge her presence, but kept his focus on Lamia. 

“I see my orders have been ignored,” his voice was a few octaves deeper than what she was used to. She had labeled that tone as his ‘Devil voice’. “I thought I made it very clear what could happen to those that chose to ignore them.”

“I apologize, my Lord,” Lamia rushed to say. “It won’t happen again.”

Chloe didn’t need Lucifer’s powers to know that she was lying. It was enough with the look the demon gave her as she said those words, still firm in her believe that the human didn’t belong at the side of their King.

“Your insubordination will cost you, Elina,” there was a finality in his voice. He was going to kill this demon. She hadn’t have to see him imparte justice yet, but she knew he had a violent streak in him. He was a punisher, after all. Suddenly she had flashbacks to every time she had to stop him from punishing their suspects as he would do in Hell, every time she stopped him.

Only that this time she was the intruder out of her element. Who was she to stop him from doing as he pleased with his subjects? He wouldn’t stop being the Devil because a human told him so, and she felt it was just  _ wrong _ to change him to accomodate to her humanity. She was human, he was not. This was one of those moments she had to swallow the impulse to stop him.

“Yes, my Lord,” Elina dropped her head, waiting for the moment she ceased to exist. Not-Chad and Klaus were looking elsewhere, so neither noticed the change in the fire inside Lucifer’s eyes as he lifted his hand to smite the demon. Chloe did and understood that Lucifer didn't enjoy this part of his role.

“Stop,” she put a hand on his chest, ignoring her lover’s astonished look, her gaze fixed on the scaled demon kneeling at their feet. 

“Darling, I can’t leave her unpunished,” he whispered low for her, his scorching eyes softening at the edges for her. She nodded solemnly, aware that she couldn’t let this woman… demon go freely. In human laws, she wouldn’t have enough to sentence her to death and she felt bad for going so far for something so small; but this wasn’t Earth and these people weren’t human. 

_ You make him weak. Leave before you kill him with your humanity. _

Humanity. It was a concept she had to let go before it go the best of her. She was human, he was not. 

_ You don’t understand what it means to love the Devil _ . He had said some days ago (she thought it were days, but she couldn’t be sure). Loving the Devil, it seemed, also meant letting go part of her humanity. 

But no one said anything about bringing a human perspective into his devilishness. “I know,” she bit her lip. “But there’s another way for this. Have you ever heard of community service?”

Lucifer lowered his hand but didn’t change into his angelic form. “What do you suggest?”

“It has come to my attention that Cain is here,” she cleared her throat. “And that his cell had to be constantly guarded by shifts,” she looked up for confirmation and took his tensing form as a yes. “Chain her to the door. I was also told that she failed to attend such duty earlier today.”

“Is that true?” he turned towards the still kneeling demons.

“Yes,” Klaus grumbled, ready to throw Elina under the bus. “She tried to blame me by saying we had switched shifts when that didn’t happen.”

“Chain her here. Write regular reports even when nothing happens,” Chloe tilted her head and crossed her arms, the idea taking shape as she spoke. “It gives enough free time to reflect on what happens when someone ditches their responsibilities and ignores an order.”

“Paperwork,” Lucifer looked at her, smiling at the idea. “Worst torture on Earth. I like it.”

With a gesture, chains materialized on Elina’s wrists and feet, connecting her to the door that Chloe supposed stored Cain’s soul. 

“Do as your Queen says. Write an extensive report on the status of this loop, and when you finish it, write another one. And then another. Until I deem it you have learned the lesson,” Lucifer took her hand between his clawed ones, softly pulling her towards him. He looked at the other demons in the place. “Dismissed.”

Chloe watched them scatter and flee before turning with an apologetic expression on her face. “Lucifer, I’m sorr- hmpf!” her apology was absorbed by his mouth, his kiss needy and ignited. She responded as she watched him store away his wings and change his form.

“I love you,” he growled to her lips, the hand that wasn’t in hers gripping her at the waist. When she blinked again she found she was pressed against the cold wall of the labyrinth of doors, away from Elina and Cain’s door, with Lucifer kissing her senseless. Not that she was complaining.

“If this is what happens when I roam outside the castle I might do it again,” she gasped when he let her go. 

“No,” he shook his head, cheeks flushed. “As much as watching you impart order and punish demons do  _ things _ to me,” he looked elsewhere after such admission, “I don’t think I want to look for you in this place again, not knowing if you are okay.”

“I’m fine,” she let their foreheads touch, her eyes watching his dark ones flash with uncertainty. 

“For now,” Lucifer sighed, closing his eyes. “But you are only human.”

He didn’t see her flinch at his words. “I know I am. I’m weak, and don’t know how to fight or throw knives like Maze; but I  _ have _ to do something.” She pleaded.

“Why?”

“I… I’m not used to sit around and do  _ nothing _ . I’m a bit bored, actually,” Lucifer cherished honesty, so why not tell him? “I don’t want you to feel pressured to be everywhere at once, do everything around here, when I can do something to help.”

“Help?” his voice came a bit strained. “Why?”

“Because I can,” she reminded herself that he wasn’t used to doing favours with no strings attached. “Because I want to do something for you.”

Lucifer gulped and kissed her again, the hand on her hip slightly trembling. “You are too good for... this place.”  _ For me,  _ she could feel in his words, launching her to a moment lost in the drama where Lucifer declared he didn’t deserve her.

“Lucifer, let me share the weight of the responsibility with you. If you make me Queen, let me be the kind of Queen worthy of standing by your side. I’m only human, I know, and the things I can do here are limited; but still, there must be something you could let me do. At least until we can go back,” she put her hand on his cheek, kissing him softly on the lips. His eyes filled with moisture, but he blinked it away.

“Alright,” he breathed deeply and scooted her into his arms, bridal style. “If you want to really know this place, there’s something I need to show you.”

He took to the skies and soon she was carefully placed in a throne, but this wasn’t the one at the castle. Her feet didn’t touch the floor and around her there was only grey clouds and falling ash. She looked at Lucifer, who sat in her left armrest, wings balancing him in place.

“This is the  _ real _ throne of Hell. Who sits here can tap directly into its energy, its power, and know everything about it,” he doesn’t look at her and instead watches the maze under their feet with a mixture of longing and sadness. She knows how bittersweet it must be to be the ruler of such a horrible place, the warden of the worst of the worst of humanity. Everyday sitting here, knowing about the filthiest secrets and desires of the damned.

“It’s… really high.” Chloe looks down too, feeling the hot breeze hit her cheeks. 

“Only an angel can rule Hell,” his voice is robotic, like it was something he had heard and said too many times. “Or, at least, an angel’s partner in this case.”

When he turned back at her, his smile was small, raw, with human emotions rampant on his dark brown eyes. This was important for him. Chloe smiled back and tried to get comfortable on the hot stone she was sitting on.

“Close your eyes,” he instructed. “Maybe it will be difficult for you, not being a celestial, but there’s a hum of power somewhere there, under the stone. Look for it.”

She shuddered at the way he whispered in her ear. She knew she had to focus, but his deep voice was too distracting and sensual not to have inappropriate thoughts.

“Focus,” he chuckled when he noticed her rubbing her thighs together. 

The woman forced herself to look inwards, thinking that maybe this was like meditation. She had tried it once back in her actress days to control her emotions, and sometimes she tried to meditate a bit before bed after a hard day, so it came easy to her in that moment.

There. Somewhere among the moaning and screams of the tortured souls under them, which she could hear perfectly from up there, was a humming sound like a fridge motor working in a hot summer day. She frowned, isolating the sound from the rest, focusing only on the way it pulsed with her heart and her breathing. 

In her mind’s eye, she touched the stream of power, gasping. It was  _ more _ than what it seemed. It was everything. Every door, every soul, every tainted desire. Every life and every past and every corner of Hell was presented to her to consult, if she dared. She found she didn’t.

“You see?” 

“It’s… beautiful,” she could feel her eyes gather tears. “Can I touch it?” she asked with her eyes still closed.

“Careful,” he warned.

It was like being surrounded by his wings, but with a bitter after taste. Raw power at her fingertips, making her hyper-aware of everything at once. She wondered if a human should feel like this, if her condition of ‘miracle’ made her extra tough when presented to divinity. She didn’t know, she didn’t care. The fact was that she  _ was _ Hell. Power. Knowledge.

She was brought back to the world by warm lips on her forehead. Chloe blinked slowly and adjusted to fitting herself into such a small and weak body. Only human.

She gasped. “Wow.”

Lucifer chuckled softly. “Welcome back, love.”

“What was that?”

“A portion of my power,” he searched in her eyes, looking once again for the moment it became too much for her. “Hell and I are connected, constantly feeding each other power.”

Chloe took a deep breath, her hand clenching around the fabric of her skirt. She knew that Lucifer was powerful, but… 

“I see,” she blinked the daze out of her eyes and turned to evaluate her partner with the new information.

“Detective?”

“You held yourself back a lot while working with me, right?” she tilted her head. “And let me stop you when I did.”

Lucifer smirked. “I told you, Detective. With the right partner, giving up control can be fun.”

Chloe blushed, but it wasn’t because of the sexual innuendo.

 


	5. Bonus: The Curse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonus: What happens when they live happily ever after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Concluding my zero impulse control rampage, here's the rest of the fic.
> 
> I actually like this AU, so maybe I will write more. Who knows.

The idea came when she sat at Lucifer’s desk to read a book, finding her forgotten gun among the rest of the stuff she brought to Hell on her pockets that she couldn’t fit in her non-existent dress pockets. 

“Hey, Lucifer?” she called, knowing he would hear her from the other room. “Do you have a forge? Or someone that makes weapons?”

“Thinking of taking sword fighting classes?” he appeared in one of his handmade copies of the suits he wore on Earth.

Chloe shook her head. She didn’t stand a chance against demon stamina and strength, no matter how fit she tried to be. 

“Not really,” she bit her lower lip, her eyes lifting from the gun in her hand towards her lover. “Can you make bullets out of Maze’s blades? Or maybe not  _ her _ blades exactly, but stuff from Hell?”

“Planning on making a revisit to fond memories of the past?” he tilted his head, not understanding. “That metal can do  _ real _ harm, by the way. Nasty little things.”

“Precisely. Enough harm to kill a demon,” she looked down at the useless gun. At least with normal bullets. With hell-forged ones, though… She wouldn’t even need to get close to trained demons. “I could help.” She looked at him, knowing he would guess what she was talking about.

“That…,” he blinked, astonished. “That’s actually a good idea.” He licked his lips looking down at the gun in her hands, his mind making calculations and guessing the materials needed. 

“I’ve got a pretty decent aim. Even won a tournament back at the Academy. Maybe I could…”

She left the sentence unfinished, not really sure how she wanted to finish it. She had never been a gun enthusiast, she never liked to actually shoot people. Her job was save lives, not finish them, and it always felt violent to bring out a gun not matter how many times she did. She always went for the most humane solution…

But she was the only living human in Hell, and her humanity wouldn’t get in the way of her security. Her brief interaction with demons made her see how utterly useless she was down here without any bodyguard. If the only skill she could use to protect and serve here was her shooting training then she was up to it.

“I may need to practice with other type of weapons, but I can learn,” she shrugged and put the glock back at the table, thinking of borrowing some of Ella’s magazines and books about the issue. Maybe enrolling in a police course about weaponry? She could say that she was interested in widening her skillset.

But when she looked up all thought of plans and guns went out of the window. Lucifer was right there, she hadn’t heard him approach, his eyes slightly unfocused and unblinking. He took her head in his hands and kissed her, hard.

“Is it too indecent to say that imagining you like that is pretty darn  _ hot?” _   his breath has warm in her lips. 

She bit her lip and smiled, enjoying his obvious arousal pressed against her side. “I thought that nothing was too indecent with you.”

“Ooh?” his hands went down her body until they stopped at her backside, lifting her from her seat without much visible effort. “Then you won’t mind me sharing some more  _ indecent _ thoughts about you.”

She was laughing when he threw her in the bed before joining her with a hungry look. Neither got anything done for some more hours that day.

* * *

The first thing she did when they set foot on the penthouse was take a deep breath. She had never liked the air in LA, but right then it was heaven. No pun intended.

“Yeah, coming here has that effect.” Lucifer wiped some ash that gathered on his shoulders. He took her hand and pulled her towards the inside of his home. 

Everything was covered in white sheets, giving Chloe some serious flashbacks, but Lucifer didn’t pay them any attention as he walked to his bedroom, appearing again with his phone on one hand. He turned it on.

As he went through his missed messages and such, Chloe noticed the date.

“Two days?” Had her little vacation in Hell only been two days on Earth?

He hummed noncommittally, tapping on his conversation with Maze. There were tons of messages from last week, asking him if he was serious about going back and that  _ Decker is an idiot, but she can overcome this _ to a more recent message of  _ I know you won’t read this, but I told her you left. She looked wrecked. Don’t make me regret staying. _

“Let me call her,” she took the phone from his hands before she hit the call button. Maze answered at the second ring.

_ "Decker finally hauled your ass back home?"  _ Maze's grumbling voice was like music for her ears. It has been too long without her normality.

"Hey Maze. It worked!"

_ "Damn girl! How did it go?" _

“Everything’s fine,” Chloe smiled feeling like she could believe her words. “We are back to stay for a while.”

_ “Good. The little human wants to speak with you.”  _ There was some background noise and the excited voice of Trixie filled the speaker. 

_ “Mooom! Did you find Lucifer? Is he coming back? Are you guys friends again?”  _

Chloe dared a look at Lucifer, who was obviously listening to the conversation as he uncovered all the furniture in the living room. “Yeah, we are good.”

_ “Good, good,”  _ she could almost see her daughter nod seriously.  _ “Come home soon, though. Daddy is here asking questions and Maze looks like she going to stab him in the eye or something.”  _ She whispered the last part like it was a secret. 

They said their goodbyes and ‘love you’s and Chloe hung up, sighing. Daniel. The precinct. Her life on Earth. Suddenly everything was coming back and she felt like a completely different person than the one who shouted at the ceilings two earthly days ago. 

“Everything okay, love?” she didn’t hear Lucifer walk to her, but leaned against the warmth of his body feeling too cold under the night LA breeze coming from the opened balcony door. 

“I feel like waking up from a weird dream. I guess it’s time to go back to solving murders and dealing with Daniel and paying taxes and…,” she sighed again. Re-adjusting was difficult.

“Does that make you sad?” he didn’t understand. Didn’t she complain that she wanted to come back to her offspring?

“No. Not sad,” she looked for the right words, turning around to hug him around his middle. He still smelt like ashes and fire. “My life here has been what I have always known. My humanity, the comfort zone I got used to.”

“And you don’t like it because…?” Chloe could feel his mind working overtime to understand her.

“I love being here. I love my life here, the people I met here even if sometimes human feelings get in the way of things,” she sighed. Making up with Maze hadn’t been easy. “Coming back here after Hell, after days trying to think beyond my humanity to understand you… it feels -”

He tensed in her arms. “Do you… regret it?” his voice was soft and he didn’t let her go, so she patted his back to soothe his worries.

“Not even a second,” she planted a kiss in his jaw before placing her head back on his chest. She liked to listen to his heart beating. “I feel so small now. Mundane.”

“You are not mundane, darling.”

“Here I am just Chloe Jane Decker.”

He chuckled. “You aren’t  _ just _ anything. You are the best detective in LA, in my humble opinion, and the proud mother of the most devilish spawn I’ve ever known,” his arms squeezed her softly against his body. “You have good instincts, and have passion, things you so deliciously pour into your work to bring justice to the wronged and punish the bad guys.” 

“You are going to make me blush,” her sarcasm was lost when her cheeks turned pink under his words. He kissed the top of her head. 

“Also,” she heard the smile in his voice, “you managed to snatch LA’s most solicited bachelor,” another kiss, “and bewitched the Devil.” 

“I’m not a witch.” She rolled her eyes.

“So that means you won’t dance naked under the moonlight to gain my favour?” 

She seemed to think about it for a moment, pulling back to look at him in the eye. He blinked. Was she considering it?

“Do I get the right to say ‘The Devil made me do it’ when I get arrested for public scandal?”

His chest rumbled under her hands. “It can be a private ritual, darling,” his eyes flashed with hellfire for a moment when he leaned down to whisper in her ear. “And I would make you do a lot  _ more  _ than dance around completely naked.”

* * *

Once Chloe came home from work she was  _ exhausted _ . Wrecked. It hadn’t even been a week since they came back home, but it felt too long already.

Things at the precinct had never been good for her - first with the Palmetto debacle and now with Pierce’s scandal -, so when she sat at her desk it was inevitable to notice the dirty looks and sideways glances in her direction. Lucifer’s spectacular return didn’t help in taking the spotlight from her, no matter how her partner spend a few hours greeting everyone and giving gifts around. They thought she couldn’t hear the whispers, but she could. 

Lucifer was delighted with the wild theories of her absence and their return together; and the fact that they arrived with a new and shiny ring in their hands didn’t help the situation. Last time she paid attention, rumour was that she was pregnant.

The rest of the day had been dealing with some accumulated paperwork, Lucifer ditching her somewhere in the afternoon after bringing her some food, so when she decided to call it a day and go home, the last thing she expected was to encounter a winged woman lounging in her living room.

“Hello?” she called but didn't reach for the gun. It was useless against angels anyways.

“Oh? Oh!” the woman turned to look at her. “Oh my gosh. You are Chloe Decker.  _ The  _ Chloe!” 

“Yeah, I am,” Chloe narrowed her eyes trying to guess who was this angel. “And you are…?”

“Ah, yeah, sorry, my bad, haha,” the black haired angel hid her wings and skipped towards her, extending one hand to shake. “I’m Azrael, the Angel of Death.”

She shook hands with the angel of Death and pulled out her phone. She was  _ so  _ calling Lucifer now. As she dialed him, she had to ask: “So, not that I’m ungrateful, but why are you here?”

“Girl! You did a number to my siblings up in Heaven! I had to meet you myself!”

“Uh-huh.” In that moment, Lucifer answered and she quickly summarized what was going on. He sounded calm once she said it was Azrael, but still promised to be there as soon as possible.

Apparently he meant the second she hung up.

“Ray-Ray! What brings you here?” He had totally flown there. His hair was all over the place.

“Brother,” she nodded in greeting. “I heard you guys came back from Hell and I had to meet Chloe!”

He narrowed his eyes. “What for?”

“Don’t be such a sore-butt,” the angel rolled her eyes. “I honestly want to meet wonder girl here.”

Chloe blinked. “But that’s not all you are here for, right?” She knew that look - how Azrael’s gaze jumped from one of them to the other, how her little smile crumbled at the edges. She was reminded of Trixie when she tried to get away with stuffing her face with chocolate cake.

“Damn, you are good!” Azrael laughed. “You guys are  _ soooo _ perfect for each other. I swear if I had more time I’d totally write Deckerstar fanfiction or something but,” she shrugged, “duty calls, I guess.”

_ Deckerstar.  _ The word brought back memories. Chloe took a deep breath and sat down, gesturing towards Lucifer to do the same. 

“Anyways, let's get down to business," Azrael turned serious as she sat on the remaining recliner. "Chloe, you're mortal. Lucifer's not."

"And you are the angel of Death," she nodded as she felt Lucifer tense at her side. She put a hand on his thigh, instantly calming down. The Detective ignored the knowing smile of the angel as she looked down at the gesture. "How much longer do we have?"

"Chloe-," Lucifer started to complain, but was interrupted by his sister.

"Actually, that's not what I came here to talk about. I mean, yes, but not  _ exactly _ about that little fact. Not that I'm allowed to disclose that type of information-"

"To the point, please."

Azrael took a deep breath, looking down at her fidgeting hands. “IthinkImayhaveawaytomakeyouimmortalbutI’mnotallowedtodoitmyself.”

Lucifer blinked slowly. “Again, but with actual words, please.”

“I think I know how to make you immortal, Chlo,” the nickname tickled something in her memory, but the woman archived it to ponder later. “But Father might frown upon it and I…”

“Can’t go against his will,” the Devil nodded. “Now you have my attention, sis. A way to keep this amazing woman forever  _ and _ piss off Dad at the same time? I’m in.”

“Yeah, well. It’s not that easy.  _ I think.”  _ She blinked.

“Explain and we’ll see.” Chloe tried to act natural even if they were talking about her mortality.

“Yes, yes. First of all, let me tell you that what you did was totally badass, Chloe, and that I don’t mean any harm,” she cleared her throat. “But you have to be cursed.”

“Excuse me?”

“Cursed. Like Cain!” they all flinched at the example. “I mean, back when Dad cursed him I had to tinker with my Book and I thought, well, since Chloe is an actual miracle and has been touched by divinity-”

“She had been touched by divinity  _ plenty  _ of times,” Lucifer said under his breath, earning a painful jab in the side.

“Uh, you could curse her, like Father did.”

“Me?”

“Well, yes. You are the only one powerful enough, duh,” Azrael rolled her eyes like it was obvious.

“I’ve never cursed anybody before,” he frowned. “How is it done?”

“Dunno, figure it out,” she shrugged and stood. “The thing is I already, hm,  _ erased _ , her name from my Book,” she whispered the last part. “The rest is up to you, Lu.”

And with that, the angel extended her wings, leaving the couple with a cheery “Smell you later!”.

“Why does she remind me of Ella?” was the first thing Chloe managed to say after such departure.

“Because they are childhood friends.”

Chloe nodded as it were logical that the Angel of Death was childhood friends with the latina woman. 

* * *

Talking to Trixie on the phone at first hadn’t been as easy as it is now. Lazing naked on Lucifer’s bed ( _ their  _ bed), hearing him tinker with something in the kitchen, Chloe smiles at the lastest adventure her teenage daughter shared with her.

“That’s nice, sweetie,” Chloe laughs.

“Moooom,” Trixie grumbles from the other side, “I’m not a  _ child _ anymore!”

“You’ll always be my little baby girl,” Chloe coodles, partly in jest and part seriously. The girl had to grow up quicker than most children, and the decision that was forced upon her wasn’t easy. Chloe still wondered sometimes if she was a bad mother for that.

“So, how are things with Lucifer?” she asks after a few laughs. “Do I have to think names for a little sibling yet or too soon?”

“Too soon, too soon,” Chloe didn’t blush anymore. Her daughter asked the same thing everytime they went back to Earth now. “And you’ll be the first to know if something like that happens, Trix.”

“Damn right.”

“Trixie! Language!”

“Sorry,” she doesn’t sound sorry at all, but the woman lets it slide. 

It wasn’t their fault that Maze had practically adopted Beatrice now. She was officially in Dan’s care as she was not legally an adult, but when she turned sixteen she had set her foot down and told them she could live alone. They didn’t let her, and instead she became Maze’s new roommate so they could keep an eye on her nonetheless. Neither was complaining, though, and Maze was excited to teach the ‘little human’ everything she knew. So far the only parent approved activity had been enrolling the girl in MMA classes.

It had been the deal they made when Chloe was practically pushed by her own daughter to Lucifer, told them to have a nice vacation in Hell and that she wanted a new sibling to play with. 

Truth be told, her daughter took well the whole thing. She already knew Lucifer was the Devil, and she also knew where her Mommy was going to bring him back from; so when they came back hand in hand all she wanted to know was when was the wedding and if she could be the Maid of Honor. She looked pretty bummed when they said there wasn’t any wedding; so Lucifer went above and beyond to prepare a quick ceremony in the courthouse, calling a few favours as Chloe apologized to their friends for coming so late at night and at short notice.

Around midnight that same day, they were husband and wife, Trixie had turned down being Princess of Hell, claiming that being a princess was overrated, and Ella was giving out some hand-painted “Deckestar forever” t-shirts. That night the party at Lux went so wild that it made the paper next day, also covering the sudden and mysterious secret engagement of LA’s most priced bachelor with his LAPD partner.

Going back to work at first had been a nightmare. Everyone knew about the wedding by now, and the Lieutenant called her to his office to discuss if the recent changes in her life would affect her work. In the past, she would have panicked and been pissed by the implications - being a single mother, failed actress and a woman in general didn’t make being a cop easy. She was tired of this. Of having to prove time and time again her worth. 

The people that mattered knew how much she was worth. And she was the damn Queen of Hell now. Not that any of this mortals knew. 

Instead, she took the opportunity to talk about her interest in broadening her curriculum and enrolled in all the available weapon courses their department had. She was warned that it didn’t mean she was going to get less workload, to which she shrugged and said that with the Devil by her side it could be a piece of cake.

* * *

Married life with Lucifer on Earth wasn’t much different than the usual. He took care of every legal detail, binding them in every way under the eyes of USA’s legal system, as she worked to get back any sense of normalcy. For a few months it was okay, until the first distress call from Hell came.

They had been with Ella, going over the probable cause of death of their last victim, when said victim rose from the dead and kneeled in front of Lucifer and Chloe.

“My King, my Queen,” he nodded seriously at both. “Your presence had been requested. There’s an emergency.”

“Who is it this time,” the Devil growled.

“Carfux, my Lord,” he lowered his head. 

“He is  _ so  _ dead!” Lucifer stomped towards his car, mumbling nonsense about idiot demons and children behaviour. 

Chloe glanced at Ella, who was making the sign of the cross and mumbling something under her breath. “Thank you for your service, you can go now.”

“As you wish, my Queen.” The corpse went back to being dead, but the damage was done.

“Ella, listen -”

“Chloe,” she cut her off, “did that just happen?”

“Uh, yeah. I think so,” the woman looked at Lucifer frowning in the front seat of his car, waiting for her. “Look, we can talk later, okay? Right now there’s something…”

“Huh? Yeah, go. I’ll finish this, uh, up. I guess?” she laughed softly. “Call me when you are finished, please?”

So Chloe did. After driving her husband and herself to Lux, agree that it was too soon for her to go back with him and kiss him goodbye with a soft "give them Hell for me". The penthouse was too quiet for a moment, but she shook herself and called the scientist, waiting for the torrent of questions and panic.

Turns out that Ella only wanted to know if Lucifer  _ really _ wasn't a method actor, if Chloe knew she was marrying the Devil and if their Deckerstar babies would bring the Apocalypse. Chloe tried to keep a professional front, really, and resisted the temptation of messing with her friend while answering her questions. When the woman started to calm down and ask more and more stuff, the Detective convinced her to swing by Lux after she finished with the crime scene and she would answer all she could.

Around midnight and a bottle of wine later, Ella fell asleep on the couch of the penthouse. Chloe couldn't sleep, waiting for Lucifer to come back. Thinking that they had to make a decision, soon, about the logistics of their situation. Ella was in the know now, and Dan deserved too, in her opinion. 

And then what? Grow old, wait until she was wrinkled to decide if she wanted to live forever? The question wasn't if she  _ wanted _ , of course she did want to spend the rest of Lucifer's immortal life with him; but she had  _ human _ friends and a human life. Becoming eternal meant also letting go another part of her humanity - something she was still adjusting to do. She understood that running away from the problem didn't make it disappear, but every time she pondered the idea of living forever a face came to her mind.

Trixie. She would have to see her little girl grow old and die. And watch her have children and they'd die too. Everyone she knew, every mortal person she connected with, would die. It didn't matter if she was willing to reign Hell besides Lucifer, she wanted a life here on Earth, too. At least until her friends were gone...

And then what? Watch them go to the Silver City, the only place her husband wasn't welcomed to go? She was tempted to make a trip upside and kick angelic asses for the future pain. 

Chloe stood and walked to the balcony, standing under the night sky with a glass of wine in hand. She looked up. "Lucifer had suffered enough," her tone wasn't pleading. "We all know this stupid tantrum you guys have going have to end."

Of course, she didn't receive an answer. But she kept going.

"I hope you know that if I have to choose between Lucifer and everyone else I'm going to choose the third option," she sipped her drink, looking up again. "Are you up for an encore?"

"Please don't," she felt more than heard the soft  _ whump  _ of wings. She didn't turn around. "For a mortal, you are too persistent."

"Thanks. Lucifer likes that about me."

"I don't care what my brother  _ likes, _ " his voice was laced with disgust, "and I personally would prefer if you stopped tearing our ears off when it suits you."

"Hm," she sipped her wine and turned around, finding the armoured, white-winged glory of her brother in law. "I'd stop when you behave like a family for once."

"You don't understand-"

"I understand  _ enough _ ." Chloe gently put her glass down on the table, crossing her arms to conceal their trembling. "Michael, Lucifer doesn't want to be Samael again. He doesn't want to kill your father. He doesn't want another war. Stop acting like he does."

The angel put one hand on the sheathed sword on his hip. "He insults our father, mortal, every time he disobeys Him. He shouldn't have left Hell when he did, for starters."

She hummed and smiled.  _ Gotcha _ . "If he didn't leave Hell he wouldn't have met me. I'm God's gift, right? I was literally put in his path. He wanted us to meet. Aren't you defying His will by denying that fact?"

Michael frowned but didn't comment on it.

"And He ordered you to take me to him, right? Your Father could have ignored me or killed me or, dunno, asked me himself to stop trying; but He agreed for us to be together. Wouldn't you be disobeying His will by -?"

"Enough, mortal." He was frowning, the hand on the sword gripping the handle with too much force. Her heart thumped in her chest, but she wasn't scared. No, she was  _ furious. _

"I won't allow you to make this any more dramatic than it needs to. Leave us alone. Let us visit our family in the Silver City. It's all I ask."

"We can't compromise Heaven just for a few mortals," he stood straight, the soldier in him  taking control.

"The  _ whole _ family. He doesn't talk much about it, but he misses you guys."

Michael blinked slowly, digesting her words.

"She's right, brother. Enough is enough," another set of wings on her back and an unfamiliar female voice. Chloe turned to find two women in armour, one smiling softly and the other glancing at her like she was an animal at the zoo. 

"Raph, she couldn't possibly know…"

"Mike," the soft-smiling woman took a step closer to the human, "I like her." She whined when she put her arms around Chloe, the flaming red hair brushing against her nose. That woman was  _ tall. _

The other angel stepped around her like she was a puzzle difficult to solve. "So. You are the miracle."

"Yeah?"

"You don't look special." It wasn't an insult, the woman genuinely was wondering out loud.

"Thanks?"

Michael facepalmed.

Another set of wings disturbed the night, and everyone turned to see Lucifer landing with a wild look, ashes everywhere, narrowing his eyes at the angel circle around Chloe.

"Not that I'm against family reunions, but what's going on?" He tucked away his wings. "I'm away what? A few hours? And half the heavenly host is harassing my wife."

Raphael didn't let go, snorting at his words. Chloe smiled like a teenager at him, still not used to being called his "wife".

She reached a hand towards him, smiling. "We were discussing some, uh, peace treaty ideas. Right,  _ Mike _ ?"

Whatever he was going to say was drowned in the excited squeal coming from the forensic scientist, who woke up with all the ruckus, and couldn't believe her eyes at the angelic gathering. 

* * *

And so, the decision was made. Once it was agreed that they could visit the Silver City whenever they liked, and extracting promises of future visits to Hell, Chloe felt like it was the easiest decision in her life.

Trixie was excited, of course; and Dan eyed her like she was crazy when she started explaining the whole thing from the beginning. He refused to see any if them for a few days, but in the end he caved in to the curiosity, asking her if now that she was Queen of Hell he should bow or something. She wasn't very amused by the joke.

Dan understood everything once he was in the know - and so, he promptly agreed to rearrange Trixie's custody when Chloe approached him with The Plan. She couldn't help but feel like she was abandoning her baby girl, and spend all the time she could while she did all the courses and training it was humanly possible for her to enroll.

Eventually the time came. Trixie had assured her that she was a  _ teenager _ now, and she could take care of herself. Letting go of her baby was hard, and she cried and cried, but in the end Chloe let the pieces fall into place on their own. She was tired of living half lives by then - it has been some years since their wedding and being Queen of Hell was difficult while she tried to maintain her job. 

Ever since she lost her mortality, the concept of her job lost its meaning bit by bit. Each time Lucifer and her came back from a weekend in Hell, it was harder for her to fall back into Chloe Jane Decker; the foreign feeling of it being too mundane, too little for the person she had become, consuming her thoughts each time she was reminded of obeying human rules.

She resigned. 

What else did she have to lose? She had initially become a cop to make a difference, to change the world. Since she started to get more involved in Hell affairs, Chloe had found her niche in a soul-reforming program. She thought it was unfair that the true evil was equally punished as the people who fucked up once and felt too guilty about it. Mobilizing the demons wasn't easy at first, but she managed to make a stable system by now. To make a difference. Punish the truly guilty.

As she walked out of the precinct with a box full of her stuff in her hands, she could hear the bickering and giggling behind her back. She hadn’t been the most liked person here; and some of the most misogynistic, bigoted fools were waiting for the moment she would crack under the pressure she had been under the past years with the courses and such.

“Finally accepting your place in the kitchen, Decker?” came a voice from a group of  _ buddies _ on her left. She didn’t know any of their names, but she identified the voice as the short, ugly man with the horrible beard in the middle. 

She put her box on Dan’s desk, who was shaking his head, pitying the fool, and turned to face the man.

She may not be wearing her usual hell-made gown, or her crown made of actual stars encased in diamonds, or had her trusted hell-forged dagger (Maze’s wedding gift) on her hip; but she was the goddamned Queen of Hell, she was immortal, and only two people in the room knew it.

Humming, she leaned in and looked at him in the eye, her piercing blue swirling with a spark they had never seen in her before. She smirked with the knowledge of his twisted soul. She could  _ feel  _ it, like an aura around the crooked cop (because the man wasn’t the most subtle corrupted cop she knew). This man hadn’t seen the last of her. 

"See you in Hell." Her voice carried the sentence of the damned, a subtle growl underneath she had mastered in the hellish years she had spent with Lucifer, learning the be a proper Queen. 

The fool gulped down, a shiver he couldn’t determine where it came from going down his back, when the ex-detective grinned and went back to get her stuff. The air in the room shifted and conversation filled the precinct once again, the woman walking out of the place with a straight back and head held high, like she was used to having an extra weight over it.

* * *

Lucifer purred a he let his hand slide down his lover’s back, admiring the mark of her curse. Calling it a curse felt weird, but he blatantly refused to call it a  _ blessing _ . The Devil didn’t do blessings. 

“Hmm,” Chloe murmured softly, enjoying the feel of his Devil’s claws on her naked skin. Since she got her mark the skin there was a bit sensitive and Lucifer always took advantage of it when he could.

“Are you really sure about not getting a tattoo?” his hand wandered down to her ass, gripping with a bit of force, enticing a low moan. “‘Devil’s Consort’ with a flaming heart and everything. Lovely.”

“You pushed it too far with the wings,” she turned her head slightly, glancing at his red form towering over her back. 

“But it was an accident, darling!” he leaned down to kiss the black wings on her back, the visible mark of her curse. 

“Hmm,” Chloe arched an eyebrow, letting her head rest back on her crossed arms, enjoying his warm lips on her back. She was still floating on the afterglow of her orgasm, but something told her Lucifer was interested in another round. Was he going to keep his devil form? Something tingled between her legs as she thought about it. 

His lips reached her neck, his clawed hand gently pushing her hair away from her skin to feast on the revealed part of her body. 

“Chloe,” he whispered in her ear in a husky voice, his King of Hell tone leaking through. “Can I have you now?”

She purred back, nodding enthusiastically. 

He pulled her towards the end of the bed, turning her around to face her and look at her in the eyes as he kneeled between her legs, his scarred form melting away to reveal his usual angelic face. She bit her lip and grabbed his hair, thinking that a conversation about his Devil face and her preferences in bed was in order. 

Just as he leaned in to taste her, a tentative knock was heard. The demons knew that it was unadvisable to bother them when they retreated into the room, but if someone was brave enough to do it anyways then it might be something important.

Lucifer growled lowly, hoping he could just smite whoever was there and continue showing her how much he wanted her now.

“Go,” she patted his head, reaching for a robe. Lucifer didn’t care much if he was seen naked, but it was a bit of humanity she wasn’t willing to forsake. 

Once she decided she was properly dressed, she followed him to the door, catching them in the middle of a conversation.

“... and I’m going to tear his bloody head off,” Lucifer was grumbling. He reached for her hand when she stood by his side, squeezing it softly.

“What’s the problem?”

“Dractar is at it again,” Chloe tried to match the name with a face, but for the life of her she couldn’t. “Sorry, my love. This can’t wait.”

She sighed and tried to ignore her aching between her legs. “I’ll get in position, then.” She kissed his cheek and turned back inside to change into actual clothes, not caring if the brave demon was watching their every interaction. 

At first they had been puzzled by her shows of affection, but soon they compartmentalized them as her eccentric human behaviour and got used to it. 

“Should I alert the guards?” the tiny lizard demon blinked back at their King. 

“Nah,” Lucifer shrugged. “This one is mine.”

With that, the King transformed into his Devil form, extended his bat-like wings, and leaped through a nearby window.

Outside, Dractar and the group of enraged demons were approaching the castle. Not that any of them had anything personal against their King, but they considered he had been sitting on his throne far too long, letting a filthy  _ human _ whisper in his ear, change how things worked around in Hell. A recovery system? Forgiving souls? They had seen them get out of their cells and fly to Heaven, they had  _ felt _ how the place was changing, and they weren’t fine with it.

“Lucifer!” Dractar shouted, crossing his arms when the Devil landed a few feet in front of him, smirking.

“For what do I owe you the pleasure, my dear demons?”

“Cut the crap, Lucifer! You are not our King anymore! Not since you let that human bitch steal your throne!”

Lucifer smiled wider at his words, and Dractar saw a few demons take a step back, but he stood his ground.

“She didn’t steal anything. She  _ earned _ it. In fact, I think I’m going to make another throne for her. Her legs look delicious when she sits down. Don’t you agree?”

“You won’t be smiling when I tear your stupid face from your skull. You are a disgrace, Lucifer, letting a human cloud your judgement like this. Hell is no place for a human, even less the honor of being Queen!”

The Devil crossed his arms, extending his wings broadly, but didn’t say anything. He looked amused. Dractar didn’t understand how he wasn’t biting his bait words.

“She doesn’t deserve it,” he growled with a finalty, getting ready to pounce.

Lucifer lifted a hand and made a vague gesture before crossing his arms again.

“Actually, she does deserve it. The throne, my soul and anything she wants,” his charred lips stretched in a calm smile. “In fact, I was just giving her some of what she deserves when you so rudely interrupted us. And I don’t think my  _ wife _ would be very happy that you did.”

Dractar was about to jump when a sharp pain hit him in the chest. He looked down, finding blood pouring from a wound in his chest. Where did it come from? He looked up at the smiling face of the winged Devil, noticing the incoming bullet a few seconds too late.

Elina watched the fool’s body drop dead to the floor and retreated carefully. She had seen the spark in a window up in the castle, the bullet passing right between the King’s head and his left wing with a precision she didn’t know could be achieved from so far. 

“So, if no one else wants to keep ruining this lovely afternoon, I’d suggest you turn around and stop this nonsense before your Queen turn you into swiss cheese like this chap here,” he gestured towards the very dead demon at his feet. “Chop chop!” he shouted when no one moved. 

He didn’t stay to watch the group scatter, the abandoned corpse in the ashen floor. He couldn’t care less what happened to the moron. Lucifer flew towards the room where Chloe had stashed her modified weapons, delighted when he found her still in the robe (she had put some underwear, but it was still a nice sight).

“So,” he landed inside the room and folded the wings, taking a step towards her as she shelved her sniper rifle and the equipment she had used. “Where were we?”

Chloe smiled as she looked up at him when he reached her. She extended one hand to caress the red skin over his cheeks, his lips and his chin. Lucifer leaned to the touch, sighing.

“Keep it on,” she whispered and tiptoed a bit to reach his lips. “Your form. I kinda like it.” She added after his inquiring sound.

“Alright,” he reached down to grab her behind, lifting her to have better angle as he ravished her mouth. “Anything my Consort wants.”

She crossed her arms behind his head. “Just you, my King.”

The immortal woman smirked when he whimpered under her lips at her words. Of course she knew the effect they had on him. She had years to explore this, explore him.

And they had all eternity to keep doing so.

 


	6. Bonus: The Princess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This little thingy came as an idea for the Lucifer Bingo Prompt: **give 'em hell**

Beatrice Decker-Espinoza was the Princess of Hell.

Yeah, right.

She once decided to turn down the throne, with the knowledge that she never had to _actually_ see it ever in her life (her parents were really against bringing her for a vacation, at least until she was older), but somehow she wanted the title back - it could look good in her resume.

Well she was now “older” and a “grown woman” and a “young lady”, according to her grandma, but she didn’t exactly feel like hell-spawned royalty right now.

High-school. A teenager’s worst nightmare. It didn’t matter then that she was the daughter of two hard detectives and the step-daughter of the Devil himself; or that a real demon had been training her for years now. She was fresh meat in a building full of cruel people that would crush her if they considered it could benefit their popularity.

“I don’t know if this is safe, Detective,” Lucifer was scoffing in his seat, watching Trixie’s scowl reflected in the rearview. “I’ve seen to many loops about this thing. _High school.”_ The way he said the name like it was a curse resonated with the girl’s heart.

“Trixie is a normal girl and she needs to go. It’ll be fine.”

“Are you really The Queen of have you never set a foot in Hell? We have an entire section about high school tortures.” Maze flicked her demon knife, glancing towards Trixie with a worried glint in her eyes. Not that she would admit it out loud.

Chloe sighed, parking the car in front of her daughter’s new high school. 

“Listen, guys. I know it’s scary but it’s pretty normal for us humans.”

Mazikeen scoffed. “Says the not-human-anymore who never went to highschool.”

“Maze!” the teen hit her in the shoulder. 

“Maybe I want her to experience something I never did,” Chloe’s voice _did_ not break. Uh-huh. Trixie glared at her demon friend and roommate while Lucifer shook his head from his seat in disappointment for such a comment. It was a still a sore subject for his wife her lost humanity and the prospect of outliving her daughter. “Anyway, let’s go.”

Beatrice tried very hard to look calm and collected for her mother, accepting her hug once the woman walked around the car after getting out of it. She wasn’t too old for hugs, and she was sure she would never be, it didn’t matter what her friends ( _former_ friends, since she knew that changing schools was enough to lose everyone she knew) commented about her constant physical shows of affection with her parents. 

Screw them. Their parents weren’t the rulers of Hell.

“You got the new pair?” Maze nodded in approval when she patted her backpack. The demon had gifted her a new shiny set of daggers for the new school year. 

“Yep,” she said nonetheless.

“Phone?” Lucifer asked.

“Charged.”

“Keys? Pepper spray?”

“Mom! I’ve been getting home on my own for a while now.” Trixie glanced at a group of kids her age, maybe a bit older, that were frowning at the strange group by the school entrance.

“I know, baby. Just checking.” The tense smile told everyone that she was totally serious.

“What to do if someone is mean?” the demon asked her while glaring at pair of older girls snickering and looking in their direction. Lucifer also looked at them, smiling and waving a hand.

The girls turned and rushed towards the door as if they had seen a ghost.

Beatrice rolled her eyes. “Kick in the stomach, punch in the face,” she said in a bored voice.

“No, you have to -”

“Yes, girl!” Mazikeen interrupted the older woman and high fived the teenager. _“Don’t know why I even bother…”_ she heard her mother murmur in the background.

The first bell ringed, making the girl jump in her place.

Taking it as a cue, Lucifer crouched carefully, not irreversibly wrinkling his Prada suit, and picked something from his trousers’ pocket. Beatrice blinked in surprise, not having expected any kind of gift from her step-Devil, and glanced at her mother. She was smiling encouragingly.

“Your mother and I have been meaning to give you this but the time never came,” the Devil looked down, nervous. “Of course it’s nothing official and I remember you rejecting your position a few years ago; but we still want you to be included in, uh, well…”

“What Lucifer is meaning to say is we love you, Trixie, and we want you to have something that symbolizes it.”

Lucifer showed her what he had been nervously playing with his fingers. It was a necklace. A beautiful one, silver (she was sure it _wasn’t_ earthly silver), with an elaborate reverse pentagram encased in a black diamond disc. Hell-forged, she was sure. Even the chain looked like Maze’s knifes.

“It’s charmed,” Lucifer said, “behind it there’s a sigil for protection against evil intentions,” he turned the disc, revealing a strange symbol barely visible unless you looked _really_ close.

“You are making her the heir?” Mazikeen suddenly asked.

“Of course,” both answered, Lucifer’s mocking tone like it was preposterous to think otherwise. “That is if you want, spawn.”

Princess of Hell. Heir to the throne, in the (impossible) case that something happened to the current rulers. She knew that she should weigh the decision, think about it harder, consider the implications. When she turned it down she was a mere kid and what was cool back then wasn’t exactly Disney princesses. Not that she would be one if she accepted the offer.

The thing is she finally chuckled and took the necklace from her step-dad, smiling with her new and shiny teeth, freed from the braces torture of the past three years. 

“Do I get a fancy tiara, like mom?”

All of them laughed.

“The fanciest.” He answered, stretching back to his full height.

The second bell announced her inevitable departure. She didn’t want to go. “I should run.”

“Yeah, don’t be late on your first day!” Chloe smiled.

“One of our favorites back home,” Maze murmured before slapping the kid’s shoulder. “Give them Hell, princess.”

Beatrice smiled wickedly, a gesture Chloe identified as Lucifer’s, and gripped her backpack straps with determination. “Will do.”

She hugged them all once more before breaking into a sprint towards her daily torture for the next years.

But hey, she was the frigging princess of Hell. She got this.


	7. Bonus: The Dance.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Showing off your trophy husband, who's also the devil, never felt so good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two things inspired this story:
> 
> [ This ](https://sarma.tumblr.com/post/185808894439) beautiful drawing by [ sarma. ](https://sarma.tumblr.com)
> 
> And the song "I don't want to set the world on fire" by the Ink Spots. Yes, I have been obsessed with Fallout 3. I just thought the lyrics fit these dorks perfectly.

Chloe _knew_ she should have told something about the wedding to her mother. It wasn’t like Lucifer hid the event in his social media (how could she know that her mother had instagram _and_ was mutuals with her husband??), but still, she expected a few months before her mother started the guilt trip game on her for not inviting her.

Of course it didn’t matter that it has been an improvised thing, or that Penelope was on the other side of the country hosting a Comic Con show, or that Chloe didn’t like big events - her mother took every chance she could to remind her how a horrible daughter she was for not waiting a few miserable days until she could take a plane home and bring her to the altar.

Not that they would ever, _ever_ marry in a church. Fortunately Lucifer wasn’t near her in that particular phone call, thanks the heavens, but she still was offended in his stead. 

Even now, almost a year after the whole ordeal and having, at last, gotten the hang of balancing Earth and Hell in her life, Chloe found that Penelope Decker was a force to be reckoned with.

“You owe me,” her voice was smug, and Chloe could almost imagine her big smile with painted lips, “I want to see you with your new husband all dressed up! Indulge your poor mother for a night.”

The Detective knew it wasn’t just what it seemed. “All dressed up” for her mother could mean a lot of things, and flashbacks of her time as Penelope’s dress-up doll assaulted her mind. 

She shivered.

“I don’t know -”

Lucifer swinged in and stole her phone, a grin already on his lips. “Of course we will, dear Penelope!” He listened attentively to what the woman was saying from the other side of the line, nodding in the right moments. “I see. Interesting!” something sparkled in his eyes. Chloe was afraid. “Yes, yes. I’ll take care of it and will keep you updated to match the theme. Fantastic, darling!” And then he send kisses and cut the call.

Chloe breathed slowly and counted to ten.

“It looks fun,” he gave her phone back, shrugging. “The theme sounds… appropriate. Have you told your mother about Hell?”

He knew she hadn’t, yet, but the woman had to ask. “What’s the theme?”

Lucifer patted her arm, delighted. 

“‘Greek Gods’! Or, in our case, Hades and Persephone.”

Of course, the King and Queen of Hell.

* * *

Apparently, ‘taking care of everything’ meant buying extravagant clothes and hiring a professional makeup artist (a man named Chris with a terrible attitude but a firm hand), all without any of her input. When she asked why he simply said that he already knew her measurements and her tastes in clothes, also promising that it would be comfortable and within what she considered suitable for the public eye. They have been married for a while, counting their time in Hell, but she still narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

Her feelings transformed into fear when she was in her robe, sitting in the enormous bed at the penthouse, with at least three layers of mascara and bold red lipstick on. Or at least that all she could gather, because Chris had been given strict instructions to not let her see his masterpiece or approach the bathroom at any time. Now, once the peculiar man was paid and out of the building, Lucifer had hidden himself in the bathroom and locked the door. He never did that. Lock doors, I mean; because hiding in the bathroom was something he did plenty.

“Lucifer, we are going to be late!” she shouted at the closed door, looking at her bare feet. Her toenails were painted red, but a shade darker than the lipstick. 

“You can’t rush perfection, darling!” he answered back. Chloe could hear the smile in his voice. “Also, we can be fashionably late.”

She rolled her eyes. 

“Doing a dramatic entrance is out of the question.”

“But love, we are the King and Queen! We are allowed to do that!”

Whatever she was going to answer back was lost someplace in her throat, because it was then when her husband chose to barge into the bedroom, fully clothed. Seeing him wearing all black shouldn’t take her breath away like it did then - she had seen him wear what he called ‘ceremonial robes’ down in Hell a lot of times -, but it was really different to watch him take his Devil persona on Earth. She licked her lips.

“I know what you are thinking, but contain yourself,” he smirked, but added an extra sway to accentuate the trail of his cape around him. “There’s a difference between ‘fashionably late’ and arriving at the end of the evening.”

“That is if we go at all,” she purred as she got up to walk in his direction. He flashed a hungry look and a grin before gently gliding towards his walk-in closet.

“We _are_ going, darling. We promised dear Penelope -”

“ _You_ promised.”

“- and we shouldn’t miss the opportunity of showing off the other in public,” he kept talking like she never interrupted. “Now, take your clothes off and I’ll help you with this!”

The fact that she needed help to get into a dress raised a lot of red flags in her mind. In the span of exactly five seconds, the woman could feel her soul leave her body, do a somersault and deep dive into her personal Hell before getting back to her.

The last thing she could process was a mass of red silk and chiffon in her husband’s arms before her mind disconnected from her body.

* * *

The familiar weight of her crown had helped in grounding her the whole car ride. Maybe she should heed Lucifer’s advice and take the party like another boring demon gathering, ignoring everyone not worthy of her attention and not being afraid of sharing her opinion. And, above all, show who was boss.

Of course his words weren’t exactly those, but she got the meaning. He had been trying to teach her demon ways and customs, how important it was to show strength even when you most lacked it. She was Lucifer’s chosen, the Devil’s Consort and Queen of Hell. She deserved the respect. She _owned_ the title. The person that ruled Hell by her husband’s side was worlds apart from the confused Chloe of the past, who was forced to follow her mother’s footsteps and had to endure her childish behaviour.

Chloe fumbled with the encrusted diamonds with tiny stars inside of them, wondering how the Hell would Lucifer justify it in the whole “Persephone” ensemble. It’s true that her dress was distracting enough, with layers upon more confusing layers of red fabrics, which surprisingly enough didn’t make her look like some kind of crimson Godzilla; that the last thing people were going to see was her unusually bright crown. 

She fidgeted with the slit on her right leg. “You’ll be fine,” Lucifer put a hand over hers and gave her an easy smile, the one that almost made her forget about what was bad in the world.

“I know.”

“I’ll be with you.”

Chloe chuckled. “I know.”

They rode in comfortable silence the rest of the way, soft music coming from the radio filling in for the conversation that neither needed to make. When they arrived at the place Penelope instructed, Chloe’s heart did a flip. She took a deep breath.

“Let’s get this over with.”

Her husband stopped her when she was about to open her door. The detective turned to see what he wanted from her, but a horned _something_ was shoved in her face. Where did he get this?

“One more thing, darling.”

She took it between her hands. “Are you serious?”

As he presented her his matching black mask, his smile could light up the Sun. 

* * *

A tiny, childish part of her was ecstatic once they managed to walk to the entrance. 

They were half an hour late, but power walking inside like they owned the place, her hand tucked inside his arm and clicking her heels for everyone to notice how high they were, was something she thought only happened in movies.

She was a red fantasy, a flurry of colours dancing with each step like water flowing around her legs, hinting what could be under it with the knowledge that no one in the place could even dare to actually find out (except for her devoted husband, of course). She was Persephone tonight, _The one who Brings Death,_ and she was the Queen of the Underworld. 

They presented themselves as such to anyone who asked, not that anyone actually believed the truth. The woman had to agree that it was funny watching people react to the fantastic truth with confused humour.

“Chloe! You look so beautiful tonight!” her mother’s voice made them turn from a laughing old man who thought neither noticed his wandering eyes towards her greek chiffon’s low cut cleavage area.

“Doesn’t she always?” The Devil stole a quick kiss on her cheek before approaching Penelope to greet her.

“Charming young man,” she blushed as she gave her hand for him to kiss.  Chloe rolled her eyes. Her mother wasn’t the only victim to Lucifer’s charms tonight, but the elder woman was the only one that knew they were, in fact, married. “You also look fine yourself. It looks better on you than I thought by the photos you send me.”

“What can I say? Black suits me,” he shrugged as if he didn’t have a black hellish wardrobe full of what he called “official devilish regalia”.

Penelope turned back to her daughter, giving her a _look_ that always managed to put her on edge. It was like all those directors and producers, the ones that told her she needed shorter skirts and better make-up, who she needed to impress but apparently never did. Her mother always told her she only wanted to prepare her for the world, but with time Chloe knew that the woman was just vain and egoistic, projecting herself in her young offspring.

She made peace with it a long time ago. She didn’t need her mother’s approval anymore, but it was still annoying to hear her complain about her clothes and pose and make-up.

Not _tonight,_ though. Persephone didn’t care a thing about that woman. The Queen was above Penelope Decker’s comments and judgy looks.

She smiled with perfectly painted pomegranate red lips. “Thanks for inviting us, mom.” Her voice was regal, flat, uncaring; interrupting whatever the other woman was about to say.

Penelope blinked slowly out of the sudden daze and smiled back a bit awkwardly, shaking her head as she walked to greet more guests.

Chloe let the air out of her lungs, reaching out to take Lucifer’s hand.

“You are doing great, love.” He said, squeezing her hand. Magically, a glass of champagne appeared in front of her face. “Let’s mingle a bit, shall we?”

“You mean make deals with these rich and desperate old Hollywood celebrities?” Chloe arched an eyebrow, accepting the drink and looping her arm around his.

“Maybe,” Lucifer leaned down to kiss her softly. “A Devil needs his due.”

* * *

Dancing. It has never been an issue for her - Dan wasn’t a dancer (a slow dancer - waltz, tango type), and the only time she had been requested to slow dance was at their wedding, under her mother’s insistence. It went pretty well, if she must say so, but every second of it she was waiting to stop being the center of attention before she messed up a practiced step.

It seems, the issue isn't practicing at all, but the guide. 

Lucifer made it feel easy, too easy, only requiring from her absolute trust in the steps and twirls and don’t look down at their feet. 

Not that she could do much with the mask she was wearing, or the overwhelming monstrosity of her (probably expensive) dress. She had accepted going overboard, and she even enjoyed side-eyeing snobby old women judging the height of the slit in her skirt as she played the role of trophy wife to her Devil.

Once the music started to sound and all conversation died, she couldn’t resist pulling her husband towards the dancefloor to do a little bit of showing off before calling it a night. In his arms, she felt like nothing could harm her, scare her or even disturb the absolutely silly bubble of tranquility Lucifer formed around her. It always felt like they were the only ones in the world, encapsulated in their own moment. 

Of course it was all in her imagination. Life wasn’t a Disney movie moment, no matter how her own life became like a fairy tale since discovering that her partner was the Devil himself. In the end, Beauty and the Beast lived happily ever after - only that Beauty became Queen of Hell and her Beast was the most supportive, silly and absurdly in love husband she could find.

Chloe chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” Lucifer inquired as he twirled her body in complicated loops like it was nothing. She couldn’t follow anything he did, so she just let go her control and did as he guided her to.

“Nothing. I’m being silly.”

He narrowed his eyes, taking advantage of a complicated step to pinch her butt while being inconspicuous about it.

Chloe slapped his shoulder softly. “Horns suit you.” She changed the subject. Even if he was sure about her love for him, she was positive that the comment about Beauty and the Beast wouldn’t sit well with him. And she didn’t want to break the moment to explain what she meant with it.

“Thank you,” he rolled his eyes, “but it is a one time time thing.”

“Would you wear the mask again if I wore mine with you?”

“Are you, by chance, suggesting some kind of roleplay?” he smirked.

She pressed her lips together and controlled the blush until it went down completely. “Absolutely not.” Lies. She totally was. Lucifer knew it.

“In that case, I’m willing to be your own private horned Devil again.”

Before she could make a comment about the the grin in his lips, the live band changed the song and she recognized it this time. It was an oldie, but she once heard it on the radio and liked it.

_“I don’t want to set the world on fire, I just want to start a flame in your heart…”_

Apparently Lucifer knew the song too. Whispering the lyrics in her ear should be illegal, she decided.

 _“In my heart I have one desire, and that one is you, no other will do. I’ve lost all ambition, of worldly acclaim, I just want to be the one you love.”_ He sang softly, squeezing her with his arms. His eyes were deep and dark, pouring the feelings he sometimes had trouble understanding into her soul. 

“And with your admission that you feel the same I’ll have reached the goal I’ve dreamed, believe me.” She joined him in the next verse, feeling the words deep in her bones. Chloe rested her head in his shoulder, knowing that the moment was way cheesier than what she usually allowed herself to be.

But hey, it was only for tonight. Who can deny if Hades and Persephone slow danced and whispered silly lyrics? That’s right, no one. So she decided then and there that _these_ versions of the rulers of Hell did. Damn right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This didn't turn out exactly as I wanted, but it has been sitting on my WIPs for too long.


End file.
